Even MORE Rolls

Yes, that's right, Lillie loves to eat sushi now. She even has her own chopsticks and can use them quite well! Yep, our daughter eats sushi and loves shopping at Whole Foods...we love it.

Valentine's Goodies

 

All the cousins got special deliveries for Valentine's Day. Lillie helped me make heart-shaped crayons and then I packaged them up to send along. We put the broken crayon bits into heart molds and baked them at 200 degrees until they melted. Until Lillie came along, it had been a very long time since I used crayons and I didn't remember how easily they can break. Now I'm glad I could never bring myself to throw the little bits away!

The hardest part was waiting until they cooled to play with them.

Heading for Warmer Weather

Our bags are packed and we're ready to go! Forget this cold, snowy Chicago weather, we're off to Turks and Caicos for a week, staying at the Beaches resort. We've been so busy getting ready for the trip that I haven't been able to post much to the blog. So I've scheduled a few posts to keep you all happy while we're gone. Happy snorkeling!

Valentine's Recap

Every Sunday is Pancake Sunday in our house, so when Valentine's Day fell on a Sunday this year, you know Conor (the pancake maker) had to make pink heart cakes. Aren't they cute? You should all be very jealous because they were delicious! We had a great day full of hearts, flowers, and yummy treats. Lillie and Quinn gave me a perfect bouquet of cala lillies and Conor gave me some beautiful roses.

Lillie, Quinn and I worked hard to make Conor a very special Valentine's cookie. These are heart-shaped, homemade Samoa's. I found the recipe here, and oh my, you can find more homemade versions of Girl Scout Cookies here. I strongly encourage everyone to make these cookies when you need a little sweet in your life.

Recipe: From Laura Rebecca's Kitchen

cookies

• 1 cup butter, soft
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 cups flour
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• up to 2 Tbsp milk

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350-degrees.
2. In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Mix in flour, baking powder and salt at a low speed, followed by the vanilla and milk, adding in the milk as needed to make the dough come together without being sticky (it’s possible you might not need to add milk at all). The dough should come together into a soft, not-too-sticky ball. Add in a bit of extra flour if your dough is very sticky.
3. Working in two or three batches, roll out the dough between pieces of wax or parchement paper to about 1/4-inch thickness (or slightly less) and cut out shapes using a 1 to 1 1/2 -inch cookie cutter.
4. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet. If you'd like to make your rounds look just like samoas, use the end of a wide straw to cut a smaller center hole.
5. Bake cookies for 10-12 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through, until bottoms are lightly browned and cookies are set.
6. Cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

coconut caramel topping

• 3 cups shredded coconut (sweetened or unsweetened)
• 12-oz good-quality chewy caramels (like Werther's)
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3 tbsp milk
• 1/2 tsp vanilla (optional)
• 8 oz. semisweet chocolate (chocolate chips are ok)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Spread coconut evenly on a parchment-lined baking sheet (preferably one with sides) and toast 20 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes, until coconut is golden. Cool on baking sheet, stirring occasionally. Set aside.
2. Meanwhile unwrap the caramels and place in a large microwave-safe bowl with salt, milk, and vanilla. Cook on high for 3-4 minutes, stopping to stir a few times to help the caramel melt. When smooth, fold in toasted coconut with a spatula.
3. Using a small spoon or small offset spatula, spread topping on cooled cookies, using about 2-3 tsp per cookie. Reheat caramel for a few seconds in the microwave if it gets too firm to work with.
4. While topping sets up, melt chocolate in a small bowl. Heat on high in the microwave in 45 second intervals, stirring thoroughly to prevent scorching. Dip the base of each cookie into the chocolate and place on a clean piece of parchment paper. Transfer all remaining chocolate (or melt a bit of additional chocolate, if necessary) into a piping bag or a ziplock bag with the corner snipped off and drizzle finished cookies with chocolate.
5. Let chocolate set completely before storing in an airtight container.

Yields 3 1/2 to 4 dozen cookies.

Happy Valentine's Day

True Love. All Mine. Angel. My Baby. #1 Fan. Awe-Some.

Sending candy hearts your way, love Lillie & Quinn.

More Rolls

Just look at the proud look on Quinn's face. Here, he just completed his first rollover from back to front! Hip, hip, hooray!

Snow Day Adventures

When life gives you snow, make a snowman! We've had a fairly mild winter in Chicago, so when we woke up to snow...snow that was accumulating, of course we got geared up to play outside. Here is a little summary of how it went:

Head outside and bask in the falling snow. Ohhhhh, it's so cool! Run around as fast as you can until you fall down. Again, and again.

Help Mom shovel the snow. The more we shovel, the more we have to make a snowman!

Meet Mr. Snowman. (Hey! Don't judge.)

Nice snowman. "Baby snowman!"

Hmm. I wonder. If I can just...

Hee, hee, hee. Yes! I got his head.

Take that Mr. Snowman!

Take a quick break to check on Quinn.

Make snow angel.

Smile for Mom.


Now get out there and make a snowman for yourself!

Dishwasher

Lillie is a big helper - she loves to help with everything. So last night while I was getting dinner ready, she decided to pitch in and help with the dishes. Not only did she do a great job of getting the dishes sparkling clean, she also did a fantastic job of washing her hair at the same time!

Meanwhile, Quinn wasn't so patient and decided he couldn't wait for dinner. He was quietly munching away on his feet while the girls were busy in the kitchen.

You Don't Say

 

Quinn is getting really good at pushing himself up and building those muscles he needs to roll over and eventually sit up and crawl on his own! Here he is last night chatting away with Dad during belly time. And look, you can even see the hair that's starting to grow back (and very blonde it is.)

Foggy Goggles

In a few weeks, we'll be heading for warmer weather and spending a week in Turks & Caicos. I've slowly been gathering the essentials for the trip, and found some pint-size goggles perfect for Lillie. When she saw them, she insisted that she eat her yogurt with them on to get used to wearing them. She was satisfied to take them off only when we assured her she could wear them during her next swim lesson. Swim lessons are still the highlight of Lillie's week - not only does she get some one-on-one time with her Dad, but she gets to play in the pool too! With her goggles on this time, she couldn't have been more excited to go under water. Dad says that when she popped up for air, Lillie exclaimed "see everybody's feet!" Our little fish.