5 favorite things...september 7, 2008

• primary songs, nothing invites the spirit into a room quicker than a group of primary children singing "I Am A Child of God".
• sugar, it's been one of those weeks.
• that feel good, satisfaction, feeling....Luke did his first real job for my neighbor (watered her lawn and flowers while she was away for the past 2 1/2 weeks) and she paid him. it was so fun to watch his face light up when she gave him some money and thanked him for a job well done. i was also impressed at how well he did the job. i didn't even have to nag him to go and take care of her yard, so nice.
• play groups. i've been meeting with a group of ladies at a park after school lets out on wednesdays and it's been soooo nice. it's seems like forever since i've been to a playgroup where the kids all play and the moms get to sit around and chit chat, lovely.
• birthdays. today is emry's birthday and it's been so fun. every time anyone says happy birthday to her she just gets this shy little smile that slowly spreads across her face. adorable.
  

Emry's New Do

We've been talking about getting Emry's hair cut since last spring. We've gone round and round with the decision making process and each time locked horns....until yesterday evening. While driving in the car, Emry's gum fell out of her mouth. This is precisely the reason that we don't usually allow her to have gum, but we'd been out with friends and all the kids were doing it...another issue in itself. Anyway, we pulled over to find said sticky gum and had no luck. Then Emry exclaimed, "Oh! IT'S IN MY HAIR!" Trent and I simultaneously yelled out, "DON'T TOUCH IT!" Needless to say, it was a very loooong trip home, with lots of reminders for her to keep away from the mess. When we arrived home I greased her up good with peanut butter and was able to get the gum in all its sticky glory out without too much damage...but everyone knew Mom had finally triumphed. The hair was to be cut!
The following photos are from the beauty shop. Emry was really excited by this point, but nervous because she hadn't sat in a beautician's chair since she was 18 months old. We decided that since her hair measured 19-inches from the crown of her head that we'd like to donate it to locks of love. This was a little hard for her to understand. She really wanted to keep her braided hair, but Trent sat down with her at his computer and looked up the website to show her what her hair was going to be used for. I don't know if she really understood, but she calmed down. Here are the before & after photos. It turned out super cute. She's had long hair for such a long time that I did a few double takes when I looked at her today, but she doesn't seem to mind one bit.

An oops and an uh-oh

This is what happens when little boys, who are constantly reminded to put their bikes away in the proper place, DON'T LISTEN TO THEIR MOTHERS!

Luke decided that the best place to park his bike today was in the driveway, directly behind our van. So, the photo isn't that great (I was trying to keep it together, I was a little upset) but pretty much says it all. I totally backed over his bike. The handlebar is almost bent completely in half, the left pedal is gone, chain mangled, tire flat, seat stuffing coming out......and now we have a huge inch-deep crevice in the street by our driveway. At first I thought the bike put a hole in our tailpipe, but after some investigating it seemed fine. I informed Mr. Luke that I would not be running out to the store to purchase him a new bike today (sniffles from his corner). I said he was going to have do extra jobs around the house to earn money to pay for a new bike (again, sniffles from his corner). So tonight I'm making a little list of odd jobs that he can do to make some fast cash...he's already made $1.00.

5 favorite things...august 31, 2008

I don't have much to say today, but our week has been pretty darn good.

• Carley has been walking more than crawling this week and in fact isn't really crawling at all anymore, so I can officially say that she's walking! Yipee!
• My sister, Maggie, has been visiting with us all week! It's been nice to have her here. We're really sad that she's moving away, but excited for her to begin her PhD program!!
• Dryer's French Silk Ice Cream
• The school bus...it's so nice not to have to pack all 3 kids up to drop Luke off every morning at school.
• Little girls...see previous twirly skirt post...they haven't taken them off all weekend, sooo cute! Every time they walk past me I can't help but smile.
  

I'm a Daring Baker!!!

I am so excited to make this post! Most of you know that I love to cook and especially bake, so I thought it was about time that I joined the Daring Bakers. It's an online group that makes something different each month...in secret and then everyone shares their tips and ideas online! If you want to check out more about the Daring Bakers click here.

This months challenge was Eclairs. They just happen to one of my most favorite desserts, so naturally I was totally excited to make them. My grandmother used to make them for me when I was little and will still make them for me upon request. I've made them with her, but mine never turn out quite as good. However, this cream puff dough recipe was super easy and turned out wonderful. I put a vanilla custard inside the eclairs instead of the chocolate pastry cream that the recipe called for. Divine!

Pierre Hermé’s Chocolate Éclairs
Recipe from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé
(makes 20-24 Éclairs)

• Cream Puff Dough (see below for recipe), fresh and still warm

1) Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Divide the oven into thirds by
positioning the racks in the upper and lower half of the oven. Line two baking sheets with
waxed or parchment paper.

2) Fill a large pastry bag fitted with a 2/3 (2cm) plain tip nozzle with the warm cream puff dough.
Pipe the dough onto the baking sheets in long, 4 to 41/2 inches (about 11 cm) chubby fingers.
Leave about 2 inches (5 cm) space in between each dough strip to allow them room to puff.
The dough should give you enough to pipe 20-24 éclairs.

3) Slide both the baking sheets into the oven and bake for 7 minutes. After the 7 minutes, slip the
handle of a wooden spoon into the door to keep in ajar. When the éclairs have been in the
oven for a total of 12 minutes, rotate the sheets top to bottom and front to back. Continue
baking for a further 8 minutes or until the éclairs are puffed, golden and firm. The total baking
time should be approximately 20 minutes.

Notes:
1) The éclairs can be kept in a cool, dry place for several hours before filling.

Assembling the éclairs:
• Chocolate glaze (see below for recipe)
• Chocolate pastry cream (see below for recipe)

1) Slice the éclairs horizontally, using a serrated knife and a gently sawing motion. Set aside the
bottoms and place the tops on a rack over a piece of parchment paper.

2) The glaze should be barely warm to the touch (between 95 – 104 degrees F or 35 – 40
degrees C, as measured on an instant read thermometer). Spread the glaze over the tops of
the éclairs using a metal icing spatula. Allow the tops to set and in the meantime fill the
bottoms with the pastry cream.

3) Pipe or spoon the pastry cream into the bottoms of the éclairs. Make sure you fill the bottoms
with enough cream to mound above the pastry. Place the glazed tops onto the pastry cream
and wriggle gently to settle them.

Pierre Hermé’s Cream Puff Dough
Recipe from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé
(makes 20-24 Éclairs)

• ½ cup (125g) whole milk
• ½ cup (125g) water
• 1 stick (4 ounces; 115g) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
• ¼ teaspoon sugar
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (140g) all-purpose flour
• 5 large eggs, at room temperature

1) In a heavy bottomed medium saucepan, bring the milk, water, butter, sugar and salt to the
boil.

2) Once the mixture is at a rolling boil, add all of the flour at once, reduce the heat to medium
and start to stir the mixture vigorously with a wooden spoon. The dough comes together very
quickly. Do not worry if a slight crust forms at the bottom of the pan, it’s supposed to. You
need to carry on stirring for a further 2-3 minutes to dry the dough. After this time the dough
will be very soft and smooth.

3) Transfer the dough into a bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or using your
handmixer or if you still have the energy, continue by hand. Add the eggs one at a time,
beating after each egg has been added to incorporate it into the dough.
You will notice that after you have added the first egg, the dough will separate, once again do
not worry. As you keep working the dough, it will come back all together again by the time you
have added the third egg. In the end the dough should be thick and shiny and when lifted it
should fall back into the bowl in a ribbon.

4) The dough should be still warm. It is now ready to be used for the éclairs as directed above.


Chocolate Glaze
Recipe from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé
(makes 1 cup or 300g)

• 1/3 cup (80g) heavy cream
• 3½ oz (100g) bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 4 tsp (20 g) unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces, at room temperature
• 7 tbsp (110 g) Chocolate Sauce (recipe below), warm or at room temperature

1)In a small saucepan, bring the heavy cream to a boil. Remove from the heat and slowly begin to add the chocolate, stirring with a wooden spoon or spatula.

2) Stirring gently, stir in the butter, piece by piece followed by the chocolate sauce.

Notes:
1) If the chocolate glaze is too cool (i.e. not liquid enough) you may heat it briefly
 in the microwave or over a double boiler. A double boiler is basically a bowl sitting over (not touching) simmering water.

2) It is best to glaze the eclairs after the glaze is made, but if you are pressed for time, you can make the glaze a couple days ahead of time, store it in the fridge and bring it up to the proper temperature (95 to 104 F) when ready to glaze.

Chocolate Sauce
Recipe from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé
(makes 1½ cups or 525 g)

• 4½ oz (130 g) bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 1 cup (250 g) water
• ½ cup (125 g) crème fraîche, or heavy cream
• 1/3 cup (70 g) sugar

1) Place all the ingredients into a heavy‐bottomed saucepan and bring to a boil, making sure to stir constantly. Then reduce the heat to low and continue stirring with a wooden spoon until the sauce thickens.

2) It may take 10‐15 minutes for the sauce to thicken, but you will know when it is done when it coats the back of your spoon.

Vanilla Custard
Mix together: 3 T cornstarch, 1/3 cup sugar and a dash of salt. Mix in 1/2 cup cold milk. Gradually add 1 1/2 cups scalded milk. Cook, stirring constantly until thick 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from heat, add vanilla or any other flavor if you want. Put plastic wrap over the top of custard in pan while cooling so a skin doesn't form.

Great Find!

I have to give serious props to TJMaxx today! I found these awesome skirts there yesterday. I've looked at skirts like this in the past and they can be really expensive, but TJMaxx is always reasonable. I was able to get 2 skirts for the price of 1 at a regular store!!! My girls of course are totally loving them. Carley was on her way to bed when I got home, but I couldn't resist keeping her up to try her little skirt on. So cute!



Emry would like to say, "I like twirling. It was so fun. Thank you mama. Thanks you for letting me hold Carley's hand. Thank you for letting me let go of her and twirling aaand playing on your computer and doing my toys. It's so beautiful with orange and pink on it. I also like blue and white. " She's still talking next to me, I had to cut the girl off. I think it's safe to say that she likes the skirt.

Project #1...check

I always have a current list of projects to do lying around my house somewhere. Sometimes I'm really good at checking things off that list and sometimes not. This past summer has been one of those "not" kind of times. So this week while my sister Maggie was visiting and school started and since we were stranded at the house b/c one of our cars is on the fritz, I decided that it was time to work on that list. So this will hopefully be the first of many posts to come in the near future.

Project #1
My craft room/office/kid free zone

It all started a few months ago when I read Amanda Blake Soule's book.


It is fabulous, you can find out more about Amanda here. I fell immediately in love and just felt inspired to get to work with my own family.

I love to do arts & crafts type of stuff, but felt hindered b/c I didn't have a space to do it in. With kids running around all the time it's tough to enjoy a project that you have to constantly be getting out and putting away during naps and bedtime. So after some consideration and a talk with Trent, we decided to move all our food and small cooking appliances out of the laundry/pantry room and into the garage to make room for me!

I couldn't have wrapped this project up without the help of Maggie, she helped me with the finishing touches, wrangled my kids and gave me moral support when my brain was fried! (she's also a cleaning slave driver...she gave me permission to say that btw)

So without further adieu....here it is, the big reveal...hope you like it as much as I do!!!

Thanks Jenni!

While we were in Utah at our family reunion, my sister-in-law, Jenni took our family photos. It was fun to have a photo session with her. She took some great shots of us, but especially of our kids!!! You'll notice that I've added new pics on the right side of my blog...and Jenni took them! So cute! If you'd like to see more of her work click here.

this last pic is of Carley, Avery & Hailey three cousins all born w/in 4 months of each other!

First day of school

Luke's first day of school started out a little rushed, but it as you can see in the picture below it turned out AWESOME! I was originally planning on driving Luke to his first day of school, but at 7:28 am he saw his friends walking to the bus stop and wanted to ride the bus too. So we quickly grabbed his backpack and I practically ran him across the street to catch the bus that arrives at 7:30 sharp! After I got him onto the bus, I packed up his necessary school items and headed to school myself to meet him. Needless to say, everything got sorted out and he got to his class ok.

Since we were so rushed at the last minute in the morning, I missed my photo opp, so I took my camera to the bus stop after school. It looked like Luke had a great day, but he wouldn't tell us much. Here is our after school conversation in it's entirety.

M: "Luke, tell me about your first day of 1st grade!"
L: "It was good."
M: "Is that all, can you tell me 2 things you did?"
L: "...silence...We did one math page and multiplication."

Maggie & Trent received the same answers.

5 favorite things...august 24, 2008

• the pitter patter of little bare feet, running around the house...this is one of my favorite sounds. i don't know what it is about that sound, but i like it. maybe it's the fact that my kids think they're being soooo sneaky when in fact i'd heard them coming from a mile away???
  
• sacrament meeting without kids. i don't mean for this to sound bad, but emry was sick today and my sister maggie is visiting so she stayed home with her today and as if that wasn't nice enough, she offered to keep carley too! so trent, luke and i set off for church without the girls. let me tell you how wonderful sacrament mtg. was. the speakers both talked about being good examples and the importance of obedience to the commandments.
• dessert. we've been having some delicious desserts around here lately and all i can say is uummmmmm uummmm uummmmm!
• the excitement of the first day of school. luke's first day of 1st grade is tomorrow and the anticipation and excitement of it have filled the air. the neighborhood is all a buzz with kids talking about it. And if that wasn't enough, they all found out who their teachers are going to be on friday...very exciting.
• i love my pink fig soap. i get it at TJMAXX (sometimes), they don't always have it, so when i'm lucky enough to find it i buy as many bottles as they have. which is never very many. anyway, i'm on my last bottle and i'm going to miss the way it smells...i wish i knew the brand name, but the label doesn't have any information, so sad. until next time my love!
  

Our Latest Beach Excursion

We went to the beach to hang out with friends and to fish of course. We decided to get a babysitter for Carley so that we could play with Luke and Emry....and so that I could take my camera. Here are some of our favorite shots from the evening.

I love the spectrum of colors (light to dark) in this one and the clear differences between dry sand, wet sand and ocean.These next few are just precious! I can't believe they did this for me and I captured it! Schweet! I didn't plan for them to be in coordinating swimsuits, but it ended up working out so perfectly.