"Back to school, back to school, to prove to Dad that I'm not a fool. I got my lunch packed up, my shoes tied tight, I hope I don't get in a fight. Back to school, back to school, back to school...."
-Billy Madison
Showing posts with label Mommyhood. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mommyhood. Show all posts
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Back to School
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Gifts for Teacher
Just a quick post today, I've been so behind from battling a lingering cough and trying to keep up with Christmas. Today is Marisa's last day of school before Winter Break. This is her first year of preschool, so it's my first year to come up with gifts for her teachers. I JUST finished putting them together and thought I'd share before I go deliver them!
I bought the red mini baking dishes at TPT Home for just $2.99 each and filled them with chocolate rum balls (I figured the teachers could use a little rum after chasing all those 2-3 year olds!) and chocolate chip gingerbread cookies. I wrapped each dish in cellophane and tied them on the ends with bakers twine from Sur La Table. I finished each off with a red ribbon and tag.
To make the tags, I sprayed some mounting adhesive to some wrapping paper, stuck it to some card stock to make it stronger, and used a 2 inch hole punch. I was going to fill the center with a smaller scalloped card stock punch to either put the teacher's name or write "Jingle Bell Bites" (because who wants to write balls on a cute tag?), but in the end I decided it was cute enough as is and that I would include my Holiday card with a note to each to each teacher to thank them.
The ladies in the administration office are receiving a small bucket of homemade biscotti with walnuts, chocolate, and candied ginger. All of the recipes I used can be found on MarthaStewart.com. The recipes are very easy to make and follow, but I found I wished I'd doubled or tripled each recipe. When you're giving them away as gifts and filling containers, they go quick! And of course, you've gotta save some for yourself to enjoy. Also note the chocolate gingerbread recipe is time consuming because you have to chill it for two hours and once you've scooped out the dough, it needs to go back in the fridge for 20 minutes to make sure it's cold, so plan ahead and make room!
What are you gifting to your teachers this year?
To make the tags, I sprayed some mounting adhesive to some wrapping paper, stuck it to some card stock to make it stronger, and used a 2 inch hole punch. I was going to fill the center with a smaller scalloped card stock punch to either put the teacher's name or write "Jingle Bell Bites" (because who wants to write balls on a cute tag?), but in the end I decided it was cute enough as is and that I would include my Holiday card with a note to each to each teacher to thank them.
The ladies in the administration office are receiving a small bucket of homemade biscotti with walnuts, chocolate, and candied ginger. All of the recipes I used can be found on MarthaStewart.com. The recipes are very easy to make and follow, but I found I wished I'd doubled or tripled each recipe. When you're giving them away as gifts and filling containers, they go quick! And of course, you've gotta save some for yourself to enjoy. Also note the chocolate gingerbread recipe is time consuming because you have to chill it for two hours and once you've scooped out the dough, it needs to go back in the fridge for 20 minutes to make sure it's cold, so plan ahead and make room!
What are you gifting to your teachers this year?
Monday, November 1, 2010
Halloween recap and My love/hate relationship with Martha
I love Halloween, but man was it exhausting. This was the first year Marisa could really participate and get in on the fun, so I wanted it to be extra special. Yesterday I spent the morning dreaming up the perfect Halloween night menu for my little family. I had saved last year's recipes from Martha Stewart's Halloween issue, and I thought I would make Sausage and Apple Handpies (that we could take with us to eat while we were trick-or-treating), Pumpkin Harvest soup, brew up some warm apple cider, and make mini caramel and chocolate candied apples. I figured I'd make all these fantastic things during her nap and when she woke up we would all carve pumpkins together as a family and finish just in time to set out our beautifully lit jack-o-lanterns at twilight and get dressed to go trick-or-treating. (Oh - and all the while taking beautiful pictures to share with you...)
Things didn't go quite as planned. I spent Marisa's nap time grocery shopping, and then when I came home I started right away on making the pate brisee dough for the Sausage and Apple hand pies. I had done it last year and remembered how good they tasted and looked. The ingredients were so basic...flour, butter, a little salt, sugar, and water. No problem.
Within no time I was covered in flour and starting to think, "oh crap, what have I gotten myself into!" I failed to remember how much I suck at working with dough. Especially dough that has to be refrigerated over and over again for 15 minutes at a time and then laid out on parchment paper that you don't have. I managed to calm myself and get the dough made and in the fridge to set for an hour. I cut up a sugar pumpkin for the pumpkin soup and threw it in the oven. That would also take about an hour to roast. I cleaned up the flour mess and went outside to carve a pumpkin. Hubby was watching football and showed no interest in carving pumpkins. No biggie, Marisa would help me. This part was actually a little relaxing and fun. Marisa watched wide eyed during each step, but by the time I finished, she was playing on my iphone. There were two more pumpkins left to carve. That was not gonna happen. I went back to making the pies. The filling was easy and quick to make, but I was sweating as I tried to quickly roll out the dough into 1/8 inch thick sheets that were supposed to be rectangles but more resembled ovals. I decided to skip putting the dough back in the fridge as instructed. I was running out of time to get them in the oven. I cut pumpkin shapes and piled on the filling. I decided eight would be enough to put in the oven, the rest I could maybe make as some version of pot pie tomorrow. The pumpkin soup was made today, and forget about the cider and candied apples! In the end, we did make it trick-or-treating and had a great time. That's all that really matters.
This brings me to my love/hate relationship with Martha. I love flipping through the magazine to drool over the food pictures and get design inspiration. I recently saw a snippet of her on Oprah where we got to see inside her home where they were preparing for a dinner party. She had all sorts of "editors" (essentially staff) making arrangements, setting the table, preparing dinner, and cleaning up. I went to her blog today and read about how she loves to decorate for Halloween because it is one of her favorite holidays. And then she posted a picture of the fabulous job her housekeeper did of putting out her Halloween decorations. Must be nice.
Note to self - it takes an army of skilled, talented people to make all these beautiful spreads in the magazines and on tv happen. Next year, I'll plan better and not set such high expectations for myself. We all love to create beautiful memories through food and craft, but it's not worth it if we're too tired at the end of the day to enjoy it with the ones we love!
Things didn't go quite as planned. I spent Marisa's nap time grocery shopping, and then when I came home I started right away on making the pate brisee dough for the Sausage and Apple hand pies. I had done it last year and remembered how good they tasted and looked. The ingredients were so basic...flour, butter, a little salt, sugar, and water. No problem.
Within no time I was covered in flour and starting to think, "oh crap, what have I gotten myself into!" I failed to remember how much I suck at working with dough. Especially dough that has to be refrigerated over and over again for 15 minutes at a time and then laid out on parchment paper that you don't have. I managed to calm myself and get the dough made and in the fridge to set for an hour. I cut up a sugar pumpkin for the pumpkin soup and threw it in the oven. That would also take about an hour to roast. I cleaned up the flour mess and went outside to carve a pumpkin. Hubby was watching football and showed no interest in carving pumpkins. No biggie, Marisa would help me. This part was actually a little relaxing and fun. Marisa watched wide eyed during each step, but by the time I finished, she was playing on my iphone. There were two more pumpkins left to carve. That was not gonna happen. I went back to making the pies. The filling was easy and quick to make, but I was sweating as I tried to quickly roll out the dough into 1/8 inch thick sheets that were supposed to be rectangles but more resembled ovals. I decided to skip putting the dough back in the fridge as instructed. I was running out of time to get them in the oven. I cut pumpkin shapes and piled on the filling. I decided eight would be enough to put in the oven, the rest I could maybe make as some version of pot pie tomorrow. The pumpkin soup was made today, and forget about the cider and candied apples! In the end, we did make it trick-or-treating and had a great time. That's all that really matters.
This brings me to my love/hate relationship with Martha. I love flipping through the magazine to drool over the food pictures and get design inspiration. I recently saw a snippet of her on Oprah where we got to see inside her home where they were preparing for a dinner party. She had all sorts of "editors" (essentially staff) making arrangements, setting the table, preparing dinner, and cleaning up. I went to her blog today and read about how she loves to decorate for Halloween because it is one of her favorite holidays. And then she posted a picture of the fabulous job her housekeeper did of putting out her Halloween decorations. Must be nice.
Note to self - it takes an army of skilled, talented people to make all these beautiful spreads in the magazines and on tv happen. Next year, I'll plan better and not set such high expectations for myself. We all love to create beautiful memories through food and craft, but it's not worth it if we're too tired at the end of the day to enjoy it with the ones we love!
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
A Rainy Day at Pretend City
On Sunday night, I had promised Marisa we would go to Disneyland in the morning. Unfortunately in the morning it was raining. I decided to try Pretend City in Irvine
The Curious George exhibit was a hit because it featured a rocket slide, and of course, we got a picture with Curious George. They had some shape sorting activities and a huge block building activity, but all attention was on the slide. We left after only an hour and ten minutes when Marisa couldn't get anything out of the markers or glitter pens in the art area. Marisa had a blast, but I left feeling like for now, this isn't the place for us. Considering the drive and the ticket price, one hour of activity just wasn't enough. I know lots of moms love this place though, so we'll give it another chance in a few years!
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Baby's First Haircut
Okay, so she's not exactly a baby anymore, and I couldn't bare to do a real haircut - just a trim on her bangs. I had this grand vision of taking her to some cute retro barber shop where she would sit in an airplane or fire engine chair and I would capture the first snips of those soft baby curls gently falling to the ground as she happily enjoyed a bright lollipop. Yeah right.
I decided to take her to my hair stylist at Holiday Salon. (Check back soon for a review on Holiday!) Marisa calmly sat on my lap and my stylist, Meghan, draped a cape over the both of us. Marisa noted it was, "like superheroes." Meghan could already see I was brushing Marisa's hair in a way that would give her side swept bangs so she quickly trimmed them in the same direction. I asked if we should trim the sides or back (I don't know what got into me!), but Meghan thankfully said she didn't think she needed a full cut yet. In less than five minutes, we were both happy customers! Marisa could see, and I felt like going home and dressing her in a Suri Cruise-esque outfit. While I couldn't get pictures of my good little girl sitting patiently during her haircut, I did go home and take these to at least document the day...
Many of my mom friends have cried over the first haircut (or every hair cut). I think it's partly a sentimental thing - they get this cut and they don't look like your baby anymore. They look like KIDS. Lots of times, it's not at all what you asked for or envisioned. I was so terrified of it, I swore I would never cut it and put her hair up in cute barrettes and pigtails. Unfortunately, like most toddlers, Marisa has her own opinion on that.
I decided to take her to my hair stylist at Holiday Salon. (Check back soon for a review on Holiday!) Marisa calmly sat on my lap and my stylist, Meghan, draped a cape over the both of us. Marisa noted it was, "like superheroes." Meghan could already see I was brushing Marisa's hair in a way that would give her side swept bangs so she quickly trimmed them in the same direction. I asked if we should trim the sides or back (I don't know what got into me!), but Meghan thankfully said she didn't think she needed a full cut yet. In less than five minutes, we were both happy customers! Marisa could see, and I felt like going home and dressing her in a Suri Cruise-esque outfit. While I couldn't get pictures of my good little girl sitting patiently during her haircut, I did go home and take these to at least document the day...
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