Celebrate Grandchildren in 2011!!

Here are some cute ideas to celebrate SPRING....We are having not ONE, but TWO new babies in 2011!

WHOOT!

So far....the one coming in August is a GIRL!!! YAY! The one coming in November????? We will have to wait on that announcement! That will make a total of 15 for this year, anyway. We'll see what the stork does in 2012.......

Spring Break

My newest "loves!" Cake pops have been around awhile....Martha did them several years ago....but I have now been bitten by the bug and had to get this book. They look so easy.....plan on trying them for Easter. Tartine....is a favorite already...love their tart ideas and recipes....they are a bakery in San Francisco. I never did an "egg wash" on my tarts until I saw this book. Babycakes is from a N.Y. bakery and I got it at Anthro....lots of gluten-free, sugar-free and vegan stuff.....EWWWWW! Well....I can use Will as my guinea pig.

Have a great Spring Break everyone!

Here is a recipe my neighbor/friend gave me for truffles. I plan on making mine egg-shaped for Easter.

OREO TRUFFLES

Ingredients

1 (16 oz.) package Oreo chocolate sandwich cookies, divided.

1 (8 oz.) package of Philadelphia cream cheese, softened.

2 (8 oz.) packages Baker's semi-sweet baking chocolate, melted.

Directions

1. Crush 9 of the cookies to fine crumbs in food processor, reserve for later use. You can crush them other ways....(use your imagination) I don't use a food processor myself.....

Crush remaining 36 cookies to fine crumbs; place in medium bowl. Add cream cheese; mix until well blended. Roll cookie mixture into 42 balls (or eggs ...or whatever.)...about 1 inch diameter.

2. Dip balls in chocolate; place on wax paper-covered baking sheet. Sprinkle with reserved cookie crumbs.

3. Refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour. Store leftover truffles, covered, in fridge.

Now doesn't that look EASY? I think I will try pastel- colored chocolate melts from Michaels....or my expensive white chocolate from Shar's for the adults.

Canned chicken

We bought chicken on sale ....again......canned 21 quarts in my brand new pressure cooker. I used to own one with my mother-in-law, we split the cost and shared it.....but when she passed....we were living in Hong Kong and someone else claimed it. So......after all these years....I have my own again. Hooray for ME!

That bottled chicken is the BEST! It sure comes in handy when I need something quick....like the little impromptu dinner party we held on Monday night. The party turned from four of us saying good bye as our friends are moving away.......to.......14 of us sitting down to my best dishes and chicken enchiladas, rice, my home made fudge sauce on ice cream.......YUMMMMMMMMY! The best thing about it is that I had FUN...so nice to have that chicken handy in a pinch. My other friends brought salad and other "fixins." Nothing like a group effort. We laughed and laughed over old times, scout outing failures, etc.....laughter truly is the best medicine.

We waddled our way over to Dan's for his "spur of the moment" birthday dinner. We enjoyed a wonderful meal by Keira with her version of chicken enchiladas. LOVED them! The flower garden, growing boys, fun gifts. All of my girls and daughters-in-law are good cooks. Old age is going to be great .....when I get to sit back and let them feed and entertain me......I promise to wear my diaper when I come! Happy 32nd birthday Dan. We love you and are proud of you and your accomplishments. Kale is dramatic and entertains royally....(gosh, where DOES he get that from?) Beck is so cute and fun to watch with his antics and all that he is learning and Eli....well....all I can say is that when I hear that DEEP voice coming out of a four-year old.....all I can do is....... LAUGH! I try to play "Angry Birds" on my iPad but I cannot begin to compete with those boys.....Eli gave me a few pointers up at the cabin though.....I will keep trying to improve my game. Every time they do a flip on the tramp they ask if I can do that......I assure them that NO I CAN'T DO THAT.....they just love to hear me say it.

Sweeties

We took our day trip today to SWEETIES....love that candy warehouse. Ryder and Kendra came along with Tatoe! We got some GIANT candy necklaces and some cool Easter candy.
Kendra loves to watch the boys. She is the BEST baby ever! Never cries...always smiling and happy. Here she is modeling the pretty crocheted top that Simona's mother sent from Romania. We had a fun care package from them this week. Mugs, hats, dolls, the "works." It was like Christmas all over again. THANK YOU!!!

I love spending the day with my little "sweeties!"

Out with the old and in with the NEW!

Valentines had to come down.....Spring is HERE! It was 78 degrees today...supposed to be 79 tomorrow!
Yep! Spring is popping out all over......
Out with the old and in with the new....finally got the ocean scene from Hong Kong put in a new frame....sigh....and covered up the old intercom speaker with my Joseph Smith picture I got a few years ago at Women's conference in Provo. Feels almost like a new room......

Simada

I decided to get some quail eggs on sale at the new Chinese supermarket I found. LOVE that place...it is like stepping back in time and being in Hong Kong again...with all the sights and SMELLS....you have to be able to endure the smell of fish.... because it hits you in the face when you walk in that place! I wanted to do deviled eggs...but how tedious to cut these apart...SO I made a dip instead, half mayo and half brown mustard. Totally cute for Easter parties...I decided to leave three of them with their shells still on. Hope my little grandkids will like deviled eggs as much as my kids did when they were little.
I hosted my ladies' group for the year last night. This is the morning after with everything pretty much eaten up. I found the lavender pretzels at Fry's...yummy...raspberry yoghurt! The ladies had never heard of an epergne. They are centerpieces common in the 1700 and 1800's, mostly made of metal. Mine is glass and I LOVE it. I have looked at them for years in antique stores.
Nothing like having people over to get the cupboards all waxed and everything "sparkling." Maybe I should be more motivated and have someone over every month....NAHHHHH!!! My candy lights arrived just in time to put on my Spring tree for the kids. Lareece does the heavy-duty crochet stuff....I do things like little baskets that take about 10 minutes each...that's more my speed.