Christmas Baking

Over the weekend, the cookie dough made its' way out of the freezer, onto cookie sheets and into the oven.

The baking went on and on into the night. 

I also made some absolutely fabulous bars this year.

I have decided that bars are, in fact, easier to make than cookies.

Here are a few lessons I learned in the bar making business.

1) Choose your bars wisely. I did a seven layer bar (the recipe I used was my aunt's, and I didn't ask her permission to share, so I linked to a similar recipe) and a fruit bar.
* The 7 layer bars were perfect for distributing. They didn't crumble once they were cut but the fruit bars were far too crumbly to make for tidy distribution. I utilized wee cellophane bags to contain the crumbs - but I'll have to search for an alternate fruit-full-but-less-crumbly-bar for next year.

2) Prep your pan

Parchment or wax paper in the bottom, two strips of aluminum foil (folded
over several times for strength) and cooking spray.

*The wax paper keeps the bottom from sticking and the aluminum foil acts like handles so you can lift the entire mass-of-bars out in one piece for easy, accurate, cutting.

3) Choose your pan wisely. I have come to the conclusion that clear glass pans are significantly better for baking anything which might be potentially sticky than dark metal pans. (Also, I've fallen out of love with my dark metal cookie sheets, and much prefer my lighter metal, shiny cookie sheets). The dark metal seems to heat up more than shiny metal or glass, causing chips to melt and stick-age problems.

4) Might I suggest the use of a pizza cutter when cutting your bars? Score the bars with a long knife and then cut with the pizza cutter - it really does a much better job than the knife.

Table of goodness - amazingly there are two more
trays of bars on the counter you can't see.

Bliss!

Happy merry-making, gang.

A letter to my body

Dear Body,

It's me - your consciousness here.

As you have steadfastly ignored my previous attempts to influence your behavior, I'm taking my plea public.

Please.

Stop.

Coughing.

This coughing business has gone on long enough.

There is nothing in our lungs except air, and there is absolutely no need to so violently eject air in the middle of the night.

I've checked in with the lungs, they are clear, healthy, and free of foreign bodies.

I've also checked in with the immune system and they report no infection anywhere - including the lungs, so pardon me as I reiterate my point here:

Stop.

Coughing.

Also, as long as we are airing grievances here, let me just mention one other small point:

When we lose weight, please stop taking it from our boobs and take it instead from the butt/thigh region.

It's a simple matter of weight ratios, if you continue to siphon weight from the top half of our body we're going to end up looking like an upside-down lollipop.

This is not our goal.

In closing let me emphasize these two simple points:

* There is nothing in the lungs that requires forceful ejection. Give it up.

* Shrink the thighs, keep the boobs.

Thank you for your kind consideration and prompt response.

Sincerely,

Me

Friday Moments

Friday Moments with SouleMama again today.

If you have a moment or two to share, please leave a comment with a link!

M&M face.

Mama's thoughts: "Please don't bite each
other, at least until I get the camera."

Hope you have a great weekend planned. 

xo,

M

Right now

I think I need a dose of gratitude.

There are lots of amazing moments in my daily round - if only I can find a way to stop and acknowledge them.

Right now I am ...


... coughing up a lung  (gratitude, Melissa, this is supposed to be about gratitude)


... grateful for effective cough syrup.

... enjoying hiding veggies in the kids' food.

Winter squash makes almond butter a bit more spreadable.
And no one would ever notice beats in the jelly. 

... amused by the stack of big boy underpants and M&Ms that now adorn my kitchen counter - we're potty training.

... awed by the amount of pancakes and waffles my two boys can consume in a week.

At least they're whole wheat and fortified with flax and pumpkin. 

... eager for the mail every day - 'tis the season for Christmas cards!

... occasionally feeling like an elf as Christmas magic begins in my kitchen.

What's in the jars? You'll have to wait and see. 

... shocked at how quickly the month is flying by.

... grateful that my boys are still at the age where I can buy their Christmas presents right in front of them - as long as I stash them quickly in the back of the cart and distract them with a well packed snack bag.

... wishing there were 2 of me - one to watch the kids and 1 to accomplish everything else.

At this moment - what are you grateful for?

Parenting is hard

Parenting is the hardest job I've ever had.

Not that I've had extremely strenuous jobs i.e. coal miner, brain surgeon, or nuclear physicist.

But parenting is definitely the hardest thing I've ever done.

We had parent teacher conferences on Monday. Although they spent nearly half the meeting telling me all the great ways our Big Boy is making progress - I don't remember any of what they said.

What I do remember is the areas where they pointed out he is behind.

They made suggestions for things we  can do at home to promote his development in these areas.

I respect his teachers immensely.

When they make a suggestion, I am on it. A woman with a job.

This time around they had some great suggestions that I am happy to tackle, but they also made some suggestions that I am not so thrilled to attempt.

We had a few, slight, differences of opinion.

The question then becomes - Do I do as they suggest? Or not?

I know our Big Boy better than they do, but they have years of experience and an outsider's perspective that I don't have.

I have opted to give things a try.

If I think it's too much for our Big Boy, I'll pull back.

I trust them, and they think it's time to push our boy a bit, and by extension - I'm being pushed a little bit, too.

I firmly believe it takes a village to raise a child, and I must trust his village.

A gift.

Well Gang, I have been given an early Christmas gift.

It's a fancy new digital camera, gifted early so that its' fabulousity could be utilized during the holidays.

There he is. The Big Boy. I feel like you all are seeing him for the first time. 

The pictures from this camera are so very different from any previous pictures I've posted here, I feel like up to this point, I've only posted crayon sketches of the boys. 

Prepare yourself, there's an awful lot of cuteness in this next photo.

Ouch. I know. It kind of hurts. 

How many of you knew he had the Tom Brady chin? 

And just when you think this camera can't take a bad photo...

Ack!

Unfortunately I will now be forced to bombard you with tons and tons of photos. 

And for those of you who were hoping to see me during the holidays, I'll be the person behind the camera. 

Fa la la la la. La. La. La. LA!

Sorry

Sorry no post today guys - early morning parent-teacher conferences, be back on Tuesday.

xo,
M