Valentine's Snapshot

This year Valentine's Day is going to be all about my little girl. Since my husband and I are going out to dinner and a play on Friday night, I'm going to make Thursday into a fun day for her. I'd like to make it special this year for her, last year she didn't really care, but this year she is really excited for it. She helped make valentines for her classmates and has been talking about the party all week when she'll get to pass them out.

Gotta love her "cheese" grin.

Her morning will start with a heart attack on her door.
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For breakfast we'll have pink milk and muffins with strawberry jam hearts.
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Then she'll head off to school, for a day of fun and a party at the end of the day.

Her teachers are getting hand hearts wrapped around lotion.
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And her classmates are getting little packs of mini-M&M's with a little Bee Mine Love Kirsten valentine that she put together, which I'll show you tomorrow.  They are very simple, since I wanted her to be able to help glue and punch them out.

We'll have dinner (Kirsten's choice, likely spaghetti!) and strawberry fudge for dessert
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Then we'll finish off the evening with snuggle time: A Charlie Brown Valentine and popcorn
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I hope she loves it, I think she will. What are your plans for Valentine's Day?

Cream Puffs or Bollur - Recipe

Since Bolludagur is in 2 weeks, February 11th this year, I thought this would be the perfect recipe to share today. Bolludagur is an Icelandic holiday, which I posted about here. This recipe makes a choux pastry, pâte à choux, and is translated from metric measurements, I hope it works out for you. This site has pretty good pictures of the process and what it looks like at each stage. This pastry gets it's height from the steam created by the moisture of the batter, if you open the door you will lose that steam and your puffs will fall. This pastry would be the perfect example of why ovens have a light inside and a window in the door.

Cream Puffs

INGREDIENTS

Pastry:
1 1/3 cup water
1 stick butter
1 1/4 cup flour
3 eggs

Filling:
1 cup whipping cream
2 Tbsp powdered sugar

Chocolate Icing:
1/2 cup Semisweet Chocolate, chopped
3 Tbsp cream

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Heat water and butter in small pot until it just comes to a boil
Add flour to the pot all at once and stir until incorporated, continue stirring for 1 minute or until film starts to form on the bottom of the pot (about 1-2 minutes)
Add eggs 1 at a time and combine completely before adding next egg.
This will form a very soft dough that you drop by tablespoonful onto a parchment sheet lined cookie sheet
Cook for 23-26 minutes at 400 degrees until very light golden brown
Do not open the oven to check the puffs or they will fall, use the window to get an idea of color.
After the pastry comes out of the oven let them cool completely before assembling.

Prepare filling by whipping cream until soft peaks form, sift in powdered sugar and whip additional 5 seconds

Place chocolate in microwave for 15 seconds
Add cream, microwave for additional 15 seconds
Mix well, microwave in additional 15 second intervals, if needed until you can stir it until smooth.

To assemble:
Slice open
Top with dollop of whip cream
Dip top in chocolate and nestle on top of whip cream

Mother's Day and Monday Musings - Rajneesh

"The moment a child is born, the mother is also born.
She never existed before. The woman existed, but the mother, never. A mother is something absolutely new."
~Rajneesh

Before I was a mother, when I was wished a Happy Mother's Day it was painful, a reminder that it didn't matter how desperately I wanted to be a mother, I was not one.  It was the one day a year that I wanted to hide and not be around anyone except my hubby.  The well-meaning people who would wish me Happy Mother's Day didn't know how much pain they were causing, at least I hope not.  Being a mother was something special, something wonderful, and I wanted my Mother's days to be about honoring my mother, not being reminded that I wasn't one yet.

Now it is one of my favorite days of the year, because finally after waiting 13 years I bear the title, "Mother", and it is oh, so much more than a title.  It is a day that I spend constantly aware and ever so thankful for the little girl in my life.  Also, because becoming a mother myself has made me really appreciate the love a mother has for her child, the love my mother has for me, so much more.

My darling baby girl

When my hubby asked me what I wanted to do for Mother's Day I expect he was wanting a restaurant name to make a reservation.  I really just wanted a relaxing day at home to enjoy my family!

Coffee and the broken tree while talking with my mother

So instead, a little grocery shopping was in order.  I ended up waking up unusually early, so I sat out on my patio and chatted with my mom at 5:30 in the morning over a coffee, just me and the broken tree.  Then I got baking and cooking, I made fresh biscuits, sausage gravy, scrambled eggs with chives from the garden, mushrooms in parmesan sauce and fresh fruit.  It was delicious!  We had a lovely breakfast on the patio, and spent the day enjoying the backyard and playing with Kirsten.  A simple lunch of cottage cheese and fruit after the huge brunch and then we finished off the day with hubby grilling for us.  We spent almost the whole day outside on a gorgeous breezy spring day and I couldn't be happier.

mmmmmm biscuits

Sausage Gravy

Chives from the garden

They surprised me at breakfast with a gorgeous necklace with her birthstone and mine.  She helped pick it out at the store so all day she was saying "my necklace", it was cute. Thank you my darling girl and sweet hubby for making this a wonderful Mother's Day.

After putting together the patio furniture hubby lay down on the table wrap
She covered him with her blanket and tucked him in with her bear and then
started patting his back and saying "hush hush" then she popped down so
she could see his eyes "Hi Daddy!!! Get up?!?!"

Happy Mother's Day!

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I always knew my mother loved me, but it took becoming a mother myself to understand the completely boundless unconditional love that she has for me and my siblings. I can never adequately express the newly found appreciation that I have for my mother.  We've always been close, she's always been my rock. It's more that I now realize she wasn't just the rock... she was the rock, the air, the water, the everything. Whatever I needed, she was. I love you mom. Thank you.

Thank you to my daughter. You are the most amazing little girl and I can't imagine my life without you. Without you I would not be mommy and there is no one else I'd rather be.

Happy mother's day to all the amazing women in my life... my mother, my Grandma, my Amma, my sister, my aunts, my cousins, my in-law's, my friends.

Happy mother's day to you my dear friends, I hope you have a wonderful day with those you love.

May Day Baskets

Do you make May Day baskets? We're making a handful for some close friends and neighbors this year. I came across some simple ones crafted with paper cups and ribbon, lace or strips of paper attached as handles. I was looking for something a little simpler than the typical cone style for Kirsten to be able to do them with me. Melissa Sagaser from Creative Treasures has some cute ones she made with flower patterned dixie cups, and scrapbook paper covered ones. I may make a few of those for her to take to daycare to share with her friends.  I'd fill them with a box of yogurt covered raisins and some stickers and a flower.

For our friends and neighbors though, I'm still partial to the paper cone style ones, decorated with ribbons, lace and filled with flowers.  Too bad children don't still dance around a maypole in the US, such a sweet tradition gone.

I still love this photo of all the may day baskets lining the fence.  I'll be picking up paper this week to make some may day baskets with my daughter this week.  We'll be making 9 baskets for neighbors and friends, and we'll make 12 cup ones for her friends and teachers at school.

Photo by Will Merydith

Would you like to make your own May Baskets? Here's the template I made a few years ago just for my readers. Clicking on it will bring up a hi-res version in Adobe PDF format for printing.  If you'd like to make baskets with me and share a link to them in the comments I'd be delighted.

May Day Basket Template

Happy Easter!

Friday I'm In Love {19} - German Easter Eggs

Growing up we each had a German Easter Egg in our Easter baskets filled with goodies. I bought two last year for Kirsten's basket, knowing I would eventually need two for two children.

I'm particularly drawn to the vintage style childrens picture ones like these. I bought two similar from Etsy for Easter's at our house.  The paper frill around the inside is a little worse for wear, but I don't mind.

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These are beautiful, if you just want a few for yourself.

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Or if you prefer to paint and decorate your own.

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Easter Egg Filler Ideas for Toddlers

We lucked out this year for the second year in a row. Typically in North Dakota Easter morning has us searching for eggs inside the house, however we were blessed last year to be able to go outside for our hunt, and it looks like this year will be the same.  It's been an absolutely gorgeous spring so far.

Last winter Kirsten was only interested in finding about 5 eggs or so. We put Little People Easter figures and raisins and goldfish in them last year; she got to the first Little People figure and was done looking for more eggs. This is the list I worked from for egg fillers this year, if you have any other suggestions please share them in the comments.

Toddler Easter Egg Filler Ideas
Small cracker snacks (ex. Teddy Grahams or Goldfish)
Cereal (I pick something she never gets that I think she'd like)
Fruit snacks
Fruit (blueberries, raspberries)
Mini Muffins
Coloring pages (folded)
Paint with water pages (folded)
Shaped Crayons (Triangles, Dinosaurs, Stars or any small chunky shape)
Finger puppets
Fisher Price Little People figures (in bigger eggs)
Stickers
Tattoos
Character Band-aids
Hair accessories
Fun socks
Coins (Kirsten loves putting coins in her piggy bank, she was too young for this last year)
Kid washcloths, bath mitt or pouf (I stuck a Hello Kitty pouf in an egg last year)
Sample size bubble bath
Small cars - once they are past sticking things in body orifices
Mini dinosaurs (perfect size for easter eggs)
Lacing beads
Rainbow Nest Counting Eggs - or similar counting objects


This year I went with stickers, hair ties, coloring pages, teddy grahams, yogurt covered raisins, chocolate covered raisins, kix, and froot loops (she hasn't had these before, I'm sure she'll love them).

Happy St. Patrick's Day

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y dear, dear friends, I have been away from you all for so long. What was intended to be a short hiatus, turned into a long vacation indeed. I've been in hiding a while, but it's time to dust off the welcome mat, put the coffee on and invite you all in to catch up.

The big news, as I've eluded to many times in posts and comments on your blogs, we are adopting and have been waiting for many years. Well, we are currently getting our nursery ready for a baby girl due at the end of April. So, I'll post photos while I'm preparing all of the little changes we make here and there. I absolutely adore the couple that chose us, they are very sweet and are allowing us to participate in quite a few of the pregnancy related activities, like ultrasounds.

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Anyone have any corned beef tips to share? I'll be trying my hand at it for the first time this evening.

Happy May Day!

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re you doing anything special for May Day? Making May Day baskets for your neighbors? Making crowns of daisy chains? Unfortunately, it's a little too early to be able to pick flowers and deliver them in Grand Forks, but I'd love to know if you are able to do anything where you live.



I just love this picture of all the May baskets lined up on the fence. Are they awaiting delivery? I imagine that they are.

Photo by Will Merydith

Would you like to make your own May Baskets? Here's a template I created just for my readers. Clicking on it will bring up a hi-res version in Adobe PDF format for printing.

May Day Basket Template

Just want to say a quick thank you to Jason and Alexis from myTalk 107.1 for sharing my post! I hope everyone had a lovely May Day!

Happy Easter!

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hope you all have a wonderful, lovely Easter! Take care!

Happy April Fool's Day!

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t's the first day of April and we're still covered in snow... Mother Nature's idea of an April Fool's prank I assume.

I logged into my gmail this morning and saw a link to their new e-mail on autopilot... I thought the second example was hilarious. Let me know if you run across any cute pranks on other sites (include the url please, and nothing NSFW!)

I was curious as to why so many vintage April Fool's Day cards and postcards were simply people holding a fish, or better yet, just a fish. So, I did some digging. In France, the victim of an April Fool's prank was called Poisson d'Avril, or April's Fish. Still not sure why there is a peppermint in the flying fishies mouth, any ideas?  Besides masking a fishy smell, though maybe that's the "reason".

I hope you all have a lovely day and don't fall victim to too many pranks.

Oh, and don't forget to enter the giveaway, that's not a joke!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

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'll be celebrating more tomorrow than today since hubby is racing RC cars tonight and I'll be at a Homemaker's meeting here in town. Susan has some lovely recipes for Irish Soda Bread and Irish Tea Brack that you can try if you are tempted. She shared her Tea Brack recipe when she was the featured blogger here last year. I loved her answers and knew we were kindred spirits as soon as I read her childhood book favorites.

I do hope you all have a lovely St. Patrick's Day!

Bolludagur - Bun Day in Iceland

Imagine being a young child sneaking quietly along the hallway towards your parents room, giggling and trying so hard to keep quiet. Your parents are in their bed listening and smiling, but immediately close their eyes and pretend to be asleep as they hear you creeping towards their room. You are armed with a colorful tissue wrapped wand and will be rewarded with a cream bun for each spank given to your parents before they get out of bed. You shout "Bolla, bolla!" ("Bun, bun!") as you wake your parents. Afterwards you all go downstairs for bollur/cream puffs for breakfast.

Bolludagur is always the last Monday before lent, and was by far my favorite tradition when I was younger!

Recipe for the Bollur/Cream Buns

I wanted to share the tradition with you, so I made bolla and a wand to give you an idea of the morning. The thing is my memories and the reality or making the wand are amazingly different! I can't believe how much time went into making it, and can't imagine the amount of patience my mother must have had to make these with three little kids every year!

Supplies to make the wands: Tissue paper, round stick about 18" long, Mod Podge, brush, scissors


Start by completely wrapping the wooden dowel with a strip of tissue, I wrapped with 3 layers.


Here is the completely wrapped wand with the first bit of fringe cut and ready to wrap


Start wrapping with fringe, cut each new bit of fringe a little longer until you finish the center, then cut them shorter again. This will make it more puffy towards the center and taper off at the fringe ends.


Here's a closeup of the completed wand, so you can see the decorative cuts, and get an idea of length.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Roses from Dried Flowers Direct

I hope you all have a lovely Valentine's day.

Kristin share this link yesterday, so I was playing with it a bit... Have fun making your own messages!

Thinking of Valentine's Day

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wanted to wait until February before posting about Valentine's Day. I've had this sitting in my drafts for a few weeks, but didn't want to start bringing it up too soon. I love Valentine's Day, mainly because it was 13 years ago on that day that I realized I was really falling for my hubby and that we'd potentially end up together forever. As it turned out, I was right, and the memory of the first time I had that realization has given it a bit of a special place in my heart.

I usually try to give a gift of time or an experience rather than a day to give chocolate, gifts, or other stuff. For example, a few years ago I took the day off and completely cleaned and organized his office for him. Last year I planned a scavenger hunt of sorts, I left him with a clue to a restaurant here in town and he had to come find me, from there he had other clues leading us to each of our next planned activities, eventually leading back home.

This year I'm thinking of doing a year of Valentine's. 12 valentines, 1 per month to be opened over the course of the year each with a planned day accompanying it. I feel fairly safe posting this, because, well, he doesn't read my blog. (Nicole, Jen... please keep it a secret) That's the benefit of blogging about homemaking and decorating. So anyway...

February: Lucky Stiff
March: An afternoon of snowpeople and hot cocoa
April: Dinner at L'Bistro with live Jazz music
May: Thinking of a Twins game, but it could get expensive (6 hrs away)
June: Go Karts at Thunder Road
July: ND State Fair
August: Medora Musical and Pitchfork Fondue
September: Rollag Threshing Bee
October: Picnic at Icelandic State Park, Snow Contingency Plan: Game Night
November: Murder Mystery evening
December: Pack a picnic basket with goodies for looking at Christmas lights
January: An afternoon of sledding and ice skating

What are you planning for Valentine's Day?

Cocktail Party Menu

Every year sometime in November, hubby and I throw a cocktail party for a few co-workers and friends. This year is no exception and last weekend we had a house full of friends.

Granted we don't throw a traditional cocktail party, but it really doesn't take much to put together a party. Invite a few friends,

Cheese Ball
Summer Sausage, Assorted Cheese and Crackers
Caramelized Onion Dip
Meatballs - Cooked in equal parts beef broth, chili sauce and grape jelly
Cocktail Sausages - Cooked in beef broth only to be dipped in sauces below
Roast Beef
Thin sliced assorted cheeses
Thin sliced breads (French and Rye)
Assorted Sauces (Mustard Sauce, Horseradish Sauce, Honey BBQ Sauce)

The Bar:
Assorted Wines, Beer and a variety of hard liquors
A variety of Juices and Sodas
Garnishes

Assorted wines really means a few reds and LOTS of Evolution by Sokol Blosser, I've raved about this wine before
Assorted hard liquors means... well... you'd have to see it to believe it. My husband and I don't drink often, but we do have a large variety for entertaining. I have another post detailing a few basics which can get you through.

Many people brought additional dips, cookies, and wine

Touches of Christmas

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efore 2009 gets into full swing, I want to spend this weekend finishing up some Christmas posts and recapping 2008.

Just a few Christmas touches around my house. The more Scandinavian elements are in my family room, dinette and kitchen areas (informal), and the others are in my living room and dining room (formal areas).

Swedish Straw Christmas Goat

Scandinavian Christmas Garland

Christmas Nisse

Nisse Cube

Copper Fruit Candles

Christmas Cutout Sled

Hurricanes

Jul Ball

The Reason for the Season