Family Photos

When the boys and I were in Arizona, I took some family photos with my camera. These are few of my favorites

Early Christmas Baking - A Family Affair

Last weekend while we were in Arizona, my mom, sisters and I decided that we would do some early Christmas baking. We spent almost all day Saturday making cookies, bars and candy. My mom did a lot of prep work ahead of time. She made some of the doughs in advance, and packed everything up, including cookie trays and all the ingredients to be brought over to my sister's house. This was a huge job in itself.

We made over a dozen different types of Christmas treats, most of the batches being tripled in size. Everything went very smoothly except for one batch of spritz cookies.

We all wore our Santa aprons that Mom made for us last year. Even the smallest helper, Madelyn wore her Santa bib. The three boys got new "Santa's helper" aprons this year too, even though the only helping they did was to sample the cookies and ingredients. However, they had a great time playing outside in Auntie Kelly's rocks, and also did a pretty good job entertaining Madelyn at times.

A picture of all the girls in their Santa aprons

My sister Kristin (on the right) was a good sport, she doesn't really like to bake but played along with us anyway.

The cookie samplers!


Grandpa was our #1 cookie sampler -- that is when he wasn't napping or watching the football game! Occasionally he'd make his way into the kitchen to see if we hand any broken cookies for him to eat. Here's proof of Miss Olivia helping Grandma, even if it was only for five minutes. She had more fun spending time playing with her cousins.

Grandma with her littlest helper, Madelyn, who's always smiling!

After Madelyn's Santa bib came off, she wore her favorite shirt - and mine!

Vote

Halloween in AZ

( L to R) Poseidon, Jeff Gordan, Fifties Girl, Hershey Kiss and Indiana Jones

We flew out to Arizona on Halloween morning and the kids were treated to lots of Halloween goodies, both in airport and on the airplane. Several Southwest employees were in costume, and the kids got to vote on their favorite pumpkin display at the ticket counter. They were given spider and bat rings, squeezable pumpkins, and candy.

The kids trick-or-treated with their cousins until they so exhausted that couldn't walk any further. Once back at Auntie Kristin's house everyone changed into their Halloween pajamas and surveyed their loot of candy.

Baklava

Yesterday, I made my first batch of Baklava for Mac's class's Greek Festival. I was pleased at how it turned out and so was Ethan. He loved the sweet, nutty flavor and asked me to make more. Mac on the other hand, wouldn't even try it.

Baklava is made with phyllo dough and nuts. This little treat is especially high in calories and fat. Each sheet of phyllo dough (there are 20 sheets of phyllo in this batch) is coated with melted butter. In between the layers, I used a combination of almonds and walnuts mixed with a cinnamon sugar. After the baklava is finished baking, a simple syrup is poured over the top. I made my syrup by boiling water, sugar, honey, a cinnamon stick, lemon peel and juice. Ethan and I enjoyed our baklava with a cup of peppermint-ginger tea. The pretty gold and green plate belonged to my grandma and was a gift from my Aunt Mary. It compliments my gold teapot perfectly!

Chocolate Raspberry Wedding Cake

I recently made this chocolate raspberry cake for a wedding reception. The cake itself is chocolate layered with raspberry preserves and chocolate butter cream filling. It is iced in a dark chocolate ganache and decorated with fresh raspberries. I created the heart and initials from bittersweet chocolate.

New Poseidon Website

Mac's class has been studying ancient Greece and as part of his school project, he created a website on Poseidon. He wanted me to invite all of you to visit his new site, The Power of The Trident.

UPDATE: Mac received his website grade from his teacher and it was an A+!