What's for Dinner Monday: Just a teeny tiny bit of fun.

Our good friend Kevin Chupp came home this week. He's been away at school in Portland Oregon. We are excited to have him back in our lives, and thought we'd celebrate by having a little bitty get together.

Kevin loves all things tiny. Every time I see anything miniature, I think of him. So when I started noticing tiny foods all over Pinterest, I knew I had to have a little bitty dinner.

The Menu:

Baby Carrots and Tiny Celerys

Baby Orange Slices

Mini Pizzas

Tiny Burgers

and my pride and joy

Mini Donuts

The donuts are one of the few things I've made from a picture I saw on pintrest, and actually turned out good! (Unlike this disaster) So I thought I'd share my slightly altered recipe.  You do need a mini donut pan. (I got mine on sale at Meijer this week!)

Mini Donuts

 (adapted slightly from Sprinkle Bakes)

Yield: 4-5 dozen mini donuts


Doughnut batter:

2 cups all purpose flour, sifted
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 cup buttermilk
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 tbsp. butter, melted


Preheat oven to 425°F. Spray donut pan with nonstick cooking spray.

In large mixing bowl, sift together all purpose flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add buttermilk, eggs, vanilla extract, and butter and beat until just combined. Spray doughnut cavities with cooking spray or brush with butter.  Fill each donut cup approximately 1/2 full.

Bake 4-7 minutes or until the top of the donuts spring back when touched. Let cool in pan for 3-4 minutes before removing. Finish doughnuts with vanilla glaze. Doughnuts are best served fresh.

Vanilla glaze:

1 cup confectioner’ s sugar
1 tbsp. orange juice
½ tsp. vanilla extract
Food coloring
White nonpareils 

In small bowl, stir together sugar, milk and vanilla extract until sugar is completely dissolved. Add food coloring and stir until color is uniform.  Use immediately to glaze doughnuts.  Sprinkle on nonpareils.

Here's my tips:

-I don't own a sifter. So I just used a wire wisk and wisked up the dry ingredients. 

-Our family likes to swap out the milk in frosting recipes with orange juice. It adds some flavor, and we pretend like it's healthier (Vitamin C!) 

We had a great night. While the boys played board games, Lucy and I painted.

It was an all around good day. We got to skype with Uncle Brent (for like .2 seconds until it crapped out. But Lucy loved it.)

And we visited the mall to see Clifford. 

And now, I'm ending my night with tiny donuts and coffee. Great day. 

Go ahead and pin this sweet awesome recipe.



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Want it Wednesday: Lucy Edition

I get why kids have way to much stuff and are spoiled rotton. It's WAY fun to give your kids things that make them happy. And, there are SO many cute kid clothes out there, I could easily go broke just dressing Lucy. But as a parent, you have to have self control blah blah blah.

Here's the latest list of things I'm coveting for Lucy.

Do you remember Chip and Dale? RESCUE RANGERS? Childhood love. That I can display on Lucy for only $12.94.

I love these pants. I want a matching pair, but I probably can't pull them off quite as well as Lucy.

(She also needs these...because I had them as a child. Anyone else remember these babies?)

I. LOVE. THESE.

I know, I know, there's more to life than clothes....

BOOKS!

I have very fond memories of this book as a child. Are you sensing a theme? I just give Lucy things I loved/love. Haha. 

When I saw these books, I almost squealed right out loud. Beautiful design AND classic books for kids? Hello Easter Basket. 

What's for Dinner Monday

I've been working hard all day preparing a gourmet meal.


Ta Da!!

Don't be jealous.


I wish I would have taken pictures of the food I made this weekend. Killer chicken soup, and made from scratch spaghetti and meatballs. And Lucy and I made heart cookies with homemade strawberry frosting. I was a kitchen diva this weekend. Today however...not so much. And now, I'm curled up under a blanket, drinking a pepsi and watching Monday night TV (which is terrible by the way.)

It is a super beautiful night tonight

If I wasn't so lazy I'd go do something adventures. 

But instead, I think I'll drink this pepsi, eat some heart cookies, and watch some Downton Abbey on Netflix. 

Happy Monday Friends!

"It's broken"

When you are in the midst of poopy diapers, hissy fits, and sleepless nights, you don't often think that one day, this child will be grown. They will be forming opinions and feelings all their own. And your job, one of your MOST IMPORTANT jobs, is to teach these children the best you can. Today I saw a glimpse of that day, as I taught Lucy a very important lesson. (And I'm sure she totally got it...cause she's TWO!)

I think all kids are very picky eaters, and they notice the slightest discrepancy in ANYTHING. Well Lucy is no different, and an often used phrase in our home is "IT'S BROOOOKEN!!!" Sometimes, things are broken, it's legit, and I do what I can to fix it. But MOST of the time, it's fine just the way it is. Sure, that strawberry is cut a little different from the rest, sure, that apple has a little spot on it, but it's fine. Well today, we made muffins for breakfast, per Lucy's request.
She seriously woke up and said "I want a muffin!". Well all righty. 
After she wanted to try cutting and eating her muffin with a fork, her plate ended up like this:

"Take a bite Lucy"
"IT'S BROOOOOOKEN!!!"
Ok fine. Here's another muffin, I know you like to eat it whole, and I let you cut it, so I'll give you this one.

Two bites later.

The muffin "breaks".

"IT'S BROOOOOOOKEN!! NEED A NEW ONE!"

Something in me suddenly got very willful and stubborn (Wonder where she gets that?)

"No Lucy, you may not have another muffin. That one is just fine."

SOBBING

"Would you like something else to eat? Cereal? A banana?"

SOOOOBBBBBIIIIINNNNG

"Lucy, if you decide to continue to throw a fit, you need to go sit on the naughty spot"

Yes, I know. This sounds ridiculous. But let me tell you something about my child. She is a fragile creature. A stern face and some separation does wonders. 


Now Lucy is overdramatic. And she is a good faker. Sometime I really don't know if she is putting on a show, or genuinely hurt or sad. After I calmly told her to stop throwing a fit, she turned in her chair, so she wasn't facing me. I could see her gulping hard, trying to contain herself, as tears just poured down her face. It broke my heart a little. (Not enough to give her another muffin).
I scooped her up in my arms, wiped away the waterfall of crocodile tears, and whispered
"I'm sorry your muffin is broken, but it's ok. Sometimes things are broken, but that's ok."

I don't know if it was the quiet melancholy folk music playing in the background, or the two cups of coffee I'd consumed, but somehow, that statement hit me deep. And as I rocked her and she rubbed my arm for comfort, I started thinking.

Things are broken. ALL THE TIME. Almost everything in our life has something wrong with it. The car makes that funny noise, I have a stain on my favorite jeans, even my precious coffee maker doesn't do the "sneak a cup" feature anymore. Nothing is perfect. (There is SOMEONE that is perfect...and no...it's not me...although...I am pretty awesome.)

There are a million things I want to teach Lucy. I want to teach her to read books and music. I want to teach her to play an instrument. I want to teach her how to make a killer cup of coffee. I want to teach her to love all kinds of people. I want to teach her to laugh at everything way too loud. But today, I realized I wanted to teach her to love and accept broken things (and people?).

Unless she marries very rich (which is FINE by me!), she will have to live with broken things all around her. If not broken, at least imperfect. There is always something out there that is faster, newer, and does more than the thing you have. There is always a muffin that's not "broken". But you have to realized that your "broken" muffin, tastes just the same as the other. "Broken" isn't always bad.

Yup. I'm totally over analyzing this.  It's totally fine. That's what blogs are for. Long, philosophical posts about absolute nonsense.

Want it Wednesday. Fashion Edition

Yes, I know. I missed "What's for dinner Monday". I even actually made dinner. Tacos! But this is what my Monday looked like:

4:30pm - Jeff home
5:00pm - Make Dinner
5:30pm - Leave to run some errands
6:30pm - Meeting for Teen Camp
9:00pm - Home...thinking about writing a blog post.
10:00pm - Text from the conVERGE team, needing coffee.
11:00pm - Show up at conVERGE meeting. Laugh and drink coffee until 1:30 a.m.

Tuesday:
Don't ever get out of pajamas.

So...that's why I just skipped it.
But have no fear!
Want it Wednesday is HERE!

What I want most right now, is my blonde hair back. I've never not liked a dye job so much. (And I've gone Blue Black before) It was ok at first, but has been washing out terribly. So today I tried Color Oops. It was on sale for $9 at Meijer, and I figured...what the hey. Here's the results:

What? You don't see a difference? Yeah. That's sad. It wasn't too drastic, but a little better. I got rid of the way to dark red streak in the front. And there is some color difference.

I can see my blonde highlights coming through! I think I'll try and let the rest of it wash out naturally. But I did buy a box of blonde dye, in case I got bored one evening.

I wouldn't call my self "fashionable" but I do have a fashion. It mostly consists of jeans and cardigans and scarves to hide my cleavage. Here are a few new things I would love to add to my wardrobe:

Yes. I have posted about this sweatshirt before. I want it so bad, but for a girl who won't spend more than $20 on any piece of clothing, a $42 sweatshirt seems a bit far fetched. But I love it so much.

Can a girl HAVE to many jeans? I love these. I would also love for my legs to look that long and skinny someday. Maybe if I wore high heels instead of these beautiful things:

I love that color. I love my Toms. But, maybe I need something new...

Why yes! Those are twitter shoes! Who doesn't love a good pair of Keds to show your love of social networks? I wish the google ones where cuter, because I really would wear those everyday.

 I love google. 

That's all I've got. I need to learn how to make those sweet outfit collages you see all over pinterest. I probably need photo shop or some sort of skill.

P.S. Some one please come see THIS with me.

DIY Friday: Play Makeup

I remember having tons of play makeup as a kid, and it wasn't like, really cheap super sparkly actual makeup, it was just plastic that looked like makeup. You had to use your imagination dang it! Well I've looked ALL over for this, and just can't find it. And then I found this amazing tutorial on Pinterest to make your own play makeup! Pinterest saves the day AGAIN!

So I set to work DIYing the crap out of this.

First you take an old makeup container:

This was super easy for me because,
one: I hardly ever wear make up, and apparently makeup expires, so that eye shadow I bought for my wedding...is no good anymore.
and two: My mother in law sells "Jafra" stuff. And gives me TONS of makeup all the time. Big compacts like this one. There's usually a few colors in it that I'll use, but a lot of time the sparkly blush just goes to waste anyway. (I actually really like most of the stuff she gives me, I haven't bought eye shadow since...well my wedding probably, but I definitely have extras)

If you haven't used all the makeup (Does anyone actually do this?) You'll have to dig it out before you can wash it. 

I just used a knife and then knocked it in the trash. Classy.

Then wash that sucker out with soap and water. 

Next: Pull out all those nail polishes you never use. You know, that weird color you thought was awesome, and wasn't? Those guys.

And then dump them in. 

Now, this is the part where you might want to take your time, and read the real tutorial. I'm not real patient, so mine are no where near perfect. You could pick colors that look like actual makeup you'd wear. But my kid is two, so I just used the junk I had laying around:

If you read the tutorial, she tells you to pour slowly, and something about shaking the bottle, then waiting so you don't get the mixing balls falling in.
"Mixing balls?" I thought "Lady, you crazy"

I found the mixing balls.

You then put it somewhere to dry for a day, or three. It hardens well after a day, but still stinks a bit. I waited three and then got these guys!: 

(This was my wedding eyeshadow compact. ha)

(Yup...totally dripped the black into the other containers...again..it's fine...she's only two.)

One thing I read AFTER I made this one, was that the polish shrinks a lot after it dries. That's why you can see the bottom of the containers in this one. 

I bought a pack of brushes from the dollar store, and have a sweet little plastic hair dryer and such for Lucy. Hello quiet time when I want to shower!

So TA DA! My first DIY Friday. Play makeup. Awesome. You're welcome.

Want it Wednesday: Office Edition

Keeping It All Organized

We recently moved Lucy into her "big girl bed" in her "big girl room". Which ment after a lot of painting, and reorganizing, I finally got my very own office/craft room!

I really love my new office, but there is so much more I want to do. Like have a wall filled with my obsessive clipboard collection. Isn't that just the greatest? I'm working on that now.

Speaking of clipboards I'd love one of these sweet awesome dry erase clip boards.

Or this amazing vintage clipboard. Seriously...someone buy me this.

I would also love to replace the old kitchen table I now use as a desk with this beautiful piece of art.

I desperately need this. I would type up all my meeting notes on this, and staple them together, and send them to people in the mail in these awesome pink envelopes.

I need to do this with all the random remnants of beautiful fabric I buy and have nothing to make with it.

I would LOVE this. But $300?! Ouch. So I made a duct tape mannequin using Jacob's body, and added some boobs later. TA DA!

I'm not sure how it got that little hip pop...but I think it mades it sassy.