Memorial Day Weekend

This past holiday weekend we went camping with friends...Here is a sneak peek...Gwyneth is in the center, sandwiched between two of her friends. These girls had a blast walking up and down the river, imagining and playing together.
I'll post more soon...

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i ♥ u

This is what greeted me upon entering the kitchen this morning...
He surprises me sometimes...
(we do puzzles in our kitchen...tisk...tisk...just kidding, we just lay it on the bar between the kitchen and dining room. My friend Bonnie asked a while back when she saw this post.)

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ouch

She took her first good spill without knee pads... :o( It could have been worse I guess. She was pretty distraught...while I was giving her a bath and trying to wash all the dirt out of the wound, she was crying and saying "I don't want to ride my bike anymore!" I assured her that she didn't have to ride it anymore that day, but that she shouldn't give it up completely. She answered "Maybe I'll ride it again in a couple days...just not today." She has not been back on it yet...but only because we haven't been outside to ride this week. It's a beautiful day today...I think I'll take her out. With knee pads this time...
Oh, and here are the rest of the photos from the other night...These just tug at my heart...not sure exactly why...It all started with some playful wrestling on the bed between David and I while Gwyneth was brushing her teeth not 6 feet away, she had to get in on the fun...They were both on top of me trying to tickle me...and then they got silly...I wanted to capture them from my perspective...Oh, a little tid-bit of info...these were taken at 9:15PM with natural window light @ 3200 ISO...ah...the land of the midnight sun! We've already put up the blackout shades!

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hello

and I'm a chocolate-chip-cookie-aholic... :o)
Gwyneth and I make chocolate-chip cookies about every other week. We buy the Nestle Semi-Sweet chocolate chips in bulk from Sam's. You know, the "chocolate lovers" 72 oz. package! hee! hee!

We made a batch today...Gwyneth told me that her favorite parts of making chocolate-chip cookies is that she gets to lick one of the beaters (*gasp* Yes I let her eat raw egg! I have eaten cookie batter for 20+ years and have never had any adverse reactions...)and that she gets a little bowl of chocolate chips...My favorite part is eating a cookie fresh from the oven, still warm, chocolate oozing when I take a bite...mmmm....it's even better with an afternoon cafe latte!(please ignore my poorly manicured cuticles...)

The above photo shows just one of the perks of home-schooling...chocolate chip cookies while you do your Math! :o) My personal favorite perk is Reading lessons in your jammies...hee! hee!
We're wrapping up the school year. We will be finished next Thursday! Just in time to go camping Memorial Day weekend! Woo! Hoo!
Oh, if you're interested...here is my favorite chocolate-chip cookie recipe:

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Tips: Make sure all your ingredients are room temperature, especially your butter and eggs, and wait at least 10 minutes after preheating your oven to 350° to put your first batch in.
I make a whole recipe of dough but only bake a dozen cookies at a time. Rather than make all 4 dozen cookies at one time, only for them to go stale because we can't eat them fast enough, I save the rest of the batter in a food storage container in the refrigerator and bake the cookies as we want them. Sort of like the Pillsbury refrigerated dough you buy at the grocery store. I'm sure this homemade batter, when refrigerated, is best if used within a week, unlike the store bought dough...the dough never lasts that long around here for me to tell you from experience! ha!

Ingredients:
½ cup sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 stick butter (room temperature)
½ cup Crisco

Cream together a total of 3 minutes before adding:
2 eggs (room temperature)
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla

Mix until combined with butter mixture.

In a separate bowl mix the following:
2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
Whisk until combined.

Add flour mixture to cream mixture. Mix until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips and let the dough sit for a few minutes. Scoop onto cool baking sheets and bake until just golden brown. (8-10 minutes.) I take mine out before they are completely cooked-when they still look a little doughy. Let them sit and cool a few minutes on the cookie sheet before transferring to a cooling rack.
*Variation*
Chocolate-Chocolate Chip Cookies
Use 2 cup of flour, and 1/2 cup of cocoa powder in place of 2 1/2 cups flour above.

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these two...

i love them so much...

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Super-Fudgy Brownies

I am a self-professed brownie junkie! I love brownies! I could eat the whole pan myself. I know I shouldn't be proud of that...But I LOVE BROWNIES.
Up until now I have relied on boxed brownie mixes...My mom and sister put bags of my favorite mix from Walmart, in just about every package they send my way. I cannot get these mixes here in Alaska since we do not have a Super Walmart (yet... one is opening here this summer.)
But, I don't think I will ever buy another brownie mix again...
Much like my quest for the ultimate chewy chocolate chip cookie recipe (which I have found by the way,) I have not found a made-from-scratch brownie recipe that would produce the chewy center, crisp edges and glossy top I crave.
That is until last week...
While browsing through my new favorite blog, I stumbled across this brownie recipe.

Gwyneth and I had to make them right away!

In case you didn't click the link above, here is the recipe:

Super-Fudgy Brownies

Ingredients

• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces, plus more for pan
• 1 cup all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 8 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 3 large eggs

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brush a 9-inch square baking pan with butter. Line bottom and two sides with a strip of parchment paper, leaving a 2-inch overhang on the two sides. Butter paper, and set pan aside. In a small bowl, whisk flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
2. Place butter and chocolate in a large heatproof bowl set over (not in) a saucepan of gently simmering water. Heat, stirring occasionally, until smooth, 2 to 3 minutes; remove bowl from pan. Add sugar; mix to combine. Add eggs, and mix to combine. Add flour mixture; mix just until moistened (do not overmix). Transfer batter to prepared pan; smooth top.
3. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out with a few moist crumbs attached, 50 to 60 minutes. Cool in pan for 30 minutes. Using paper overhang, lift brownies out of pan; transfer to a rack to cool completely (still on paper). On a cutting board, using a dampened serrated knife, cut into 16 squares. Store in an airtight container at room temperature, up to 2 days.

*I skipped lining the pan with parchment paper. I am lazy. But one tip I will share that is absolutely essential to good brownies: cut them after they have cooled a bit with a plastic knife! Clean cut brownies every time...no crumbs. You have to try it!
Also, if you have a 9x9 pan use it! I only had a 9x7 and the brownies were pretty tall. I like mine a little shorter! :o)*

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Boredom Basket

Lately I have been encouraging Gwyneth to spend less time on the computer/DS/TV.

When these privileges are taken away she usually whines to me saying "I'm bored…there's NOTHING to do!"

Enter the…

Boredom Basket

I raided our craft/game closet the other day and gathered a few small projects and art items to fill a little basket I had handy.

The basket contains:

• a weaving loom set
• a letter/note writing kit (very cool find in Anchorage last summer:
  Klutz Little Letters)
• a beginner Dora The Explorer cross-stitch kit
• a foam wallet project
• a suncatcher kit
  
• Elmer's Go Paint book and paint brushes
• watercolors, cup for water, and paintbrushes

As you can see from the above photo she discovered the basket yesterday and used the watercolors to produce beautiful art pieces. We hung two on the wall and saved one to send to Auntie Angie in Maryland. (Auntie Angie just recently sent Gwyneth a birthday package full of crafty things…sand art, jewelry making kit, scrapbook kit…etc. These will be put in the basket when there is a little room.)

She also found the foam wallet kit.

She also wrote a note with the Little Letters kit. Today she is begging to do the suncatcher. I better be off to get that set up for her…

Having these items out and accessible for Gwyneth was key. If I sent her into the craft/game closet she would have to search amongst the many items in there for something to do, she may become discouraged...now it is readily available to her! I LOVE it!

Now I just have to be on my toes with keeping it stocked with fun stuff to do…With my Mother's Day present it should be easy to come up with some stuff…

The Creative Family

This is a book David *wink* recently ordered for me…(actually I ordered it along with this stainless steel travel mug and told him what he got me for Mother's Day :o)

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color

A really random photo...but yesterday with the fresh snow and gloomy skies I needed a lift!
I pulled out my bright colored socks, (a pair I have received from a "funky sock exchange)
and a bright colored shirt...seemed to do the trick!

Gwyneth has her first swimming lesson tonight. She is super excited!

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