Making Valentines

I love making Valentine cards. Okay --- using the word "making" here isn't exactly true --- more like filling them out. But still ---- I was proud of Emily who got super into it this year. She was done in no time!

William was a little less patient and got frustrated he had to write his name "sooo many times".  So we did a few here and there.

I have memories of using old shoe boxes and decorating them for the day. Then the class walked around depositing the valentines into the matching box. It was so fun to run home and look at all the different cards, etc.

It was no different for my kids as they enjoyed the same things.

Believe it or not, there wasn't one little "sweet heart" candy. I, personally never liked the taste, but always thought they were fun to read the message on.

Lots of fun pencils and sweet messages!

Another cooking goal...

(grrrr...I had this all written up and now I have to start over....thanks lousy Wi-Fi)

Another goal is to learn how to make a great roasted chicken.

I found a recipe that wasn't too intimidating and got to work zesting a lemon.

Just call me Mrs. Patmore!

Using thyme and zest and some herbs, I rubbed the mixture between the skin and the meat.

Then I put more thyme and the lemon into the cavity of the chicken to cook. It really added to the flavor!

What didn't work so great is that I don't own a decent roasting pan, so the bottom of the chicken boiled instead of really roasting in my 9 x 13. I also had to crank the oven up 25 degrees to get a real crispy skin.

Probably would have failed on my first day in Mrs. Patmore's kitchen!

The onions and carrots cooked wonderfully beside it and it tasted pretty darn good!

Now, if I could only get Daisy to help me more in the kitchen! Where is that girl?

Little Mermaid cookies

So.....I've been keeping up with a few blogs --- two amazing cookie making ones. I'm not going to share the post on the original cookie; the one I was trying to copy. But my goal is to be able to decorate cookies as beautifully as theirs.

Here are a few shots of my only semi-disasterous cookies from Emily's play:

I mean for a first try ---- it's not too bad, right?

More Little Mermaid

wow --- It was a bittersweet Grand Finale show last Sunday night. Thrilled that Emily got to have this experience, but a little happy that we can resume a less intense schedule!

I'm sorry --- I know you're probably sick of Little Mermaid pictures, but I can't help it!!!