Chocolate Balls

Got to love Swedish chocolate balls, they are a no-bake, kid friendly dessert.  The kids can help, and you are done in minutes.  Pumpkin jumped out of her skin when I asked her if she wanted to make a batch.

They turned out great, but I think I may try margarine instead of butter, because the sprinkles just don’t stick like the should.

The Debate

So I have three kids, I talk about them in my blog, but I'm not comfortable using their names.  So I have been calling them Pumpkin, Sport, and Tiger, which my husband loves.  However, according to the blogging experts, people would rather read real names, so I have been contemplating pseudonyms.  Some of the choices are Kirsten, Nina, Han, Leif, or Daniel. 

So, now I come to you for advice.  Should I keep the nicknames or should I rename my children?  If you choose to rename them what name do you like the best?

Wordless Wednesday

Things That I Love!

Every once in a while you just come across things that you love and you want to share them, what better place than a blog.  This weekend, I came across an idea I just love opposed to an item, it’s going to sound corny, but it’s Title IX.

Let me explain, I have a daughter who loves soccer.  She is good at it and doesn’t think twice that she isn’t as good as anyone else, no matter what their gender is.  Pumpkin knows that she has a shot to play soccer for a long time if she wants to, there is no doubt in her mind.  In contrast, when I grew up, if there was a boys high school team, there probably wasn’t an equivalent girls soccer team, because my generation was just receiving the benefits of Title IX.  Now, I didn’t mind, while I grew up, I really just didn’t notice it.  I occurred to me recently while watching my daughter play.  I realized one of the reasons I didn’t continue playing after 7th grade was because there just weren’t any teams to play on.  All the Rec boys went on to high school sports, and there wasn’t a pitch for the girls to join.  Never mind enough girls to make a team, since we all played co-ed at the time.  I’ll say it’s still not perfect, but the girls have access to the locker rooms, the coaches, the weight rooms, the fields, and a number of other things that weren’t guaranteed before and they all do so well.

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Which leads me to this weekend.  Pumpkin and I drove to Columbus, to watch our local High School Varsity Girls Soccer Team win the State Championships.  It was an inspiration, these girls owned the field, they played tough and there was no question that they belonged there.  I just want to thank everyone who paved the way and fought for Title IX, otherwise these girls wouldn’t be on the field paving the way for my daughter wherever the road takes her.  Go Bees!

If You Are Going to Have a Star Wars Party,

Then you have to go for it and hope the force is with you.  Sport turned 6 recently and since he has been diagnosed with Star Wars OCD, we had our theme.  Now mind you I couldn’t get my head around this for weeks, so about 5 days out it all finally started coming together thanks to Google.

I was lucky enough to have Padme and Anakin (my daughter and my neighbors son, both third graders) stop by and help with the Padawan training.

The Padawan’s were greeted at the front door and were given their their vest and told to start building their own lightsaber, as all Jedi must.

The lightsaber consisted of swim noodles cut in half, that had been taped with duct tape on the ends.  The Padawan’s built their light saber buttons out of yellow and black duct tape.  The vests, were pieces of felt that I cut a V shape opening for their heads, then uses some ribbon as the belt.

Then the training began.  In the garage, there was reflex training.   They had to hit the balloon with their lightsaber.  Then the Padawan’s flew to the Dagoba system a.k.a my basement, for agility training on an obstacle course.

Upstairs, Padme and Anakin trained them with a game of Yoda says.  Touch your toes, you must.  Use the Force you must, and if you must was not said, they were out and had to work on their listening skills.  The next game was Star Wars Charades, where they had to pretend to be a Star Wars character, such as R2D2, C3-PO, Darth Vader, Anakin, Jabba the Hut, etc.  We also played a game of pass the detonator.  While the Catina band played, the Padawan’s passed the detonator until the music stopped.  That child was then able to give the birthday boy his present.
What’s a birthday party without cake?  So we had an R2D2 cake this year.  I finally learned this year to freeze the cake before you cut and frost the cake.  R2D2’s legs were falling apart like crazy, and luckily I had a ghost cake in the freezer for an upcoming Halloween party.  I grabbed the frozen cake and made a refurbished R2D2 leg and it worked out wonderfully.  So from now on, I will be freezing my cakes a day before and they will look a little less homemade.

That was our Star Wars party, thank you for everyone who has  gone before me and come up with wonderful ideas, my Padawan and his friends had a great day.

Star Wars Halloween

In case you missed it, but it was Halloween last weekend.  I have three, well two kids that are influencing the baby,  who are gaga for Star Wars.  Sport knows more about George Lucas’ creations than my brother does, I just never thought that that could be possible.  In fact, almost every breathing moment is spent informing me or someone else what this clone did, this droid, etc.  Speaking from the Crib describes this obsession to a T.

I digress, back to Halloween.  My daughter, Pumpkin, broke away from the Disney  Princesses last year and wanted to be Padme (for those of you who don’t know she’s from Episode I, II and III).  Since, I want a strong independent daughter I was all on board.  To be frank it was the easiest costume ever.  I purchased white leggings, a white  top and sewed a table runner into a cape and there you have Padme.

This year, has sadly marked the death of the princess fascination in general, this year she really wanted to be a Jawa.  So I pulled out the sewing machine and began goggling.  I found this pattern, and modified it, by taking a shirt pattern and making the arms a little more fitted.  I have to say I think I did a pretty good job.

This year my son, Sport, wanted to be a Clone Trooper.  So I could make a Clone Trooper costume or I could buy one.  Yes, I bought it.  I have to say it turned out to be one of the hardest costumes yet.  Silly me didn’t think that the 8-10 sized costume would fit my newly turned 6 year-old, but it was.  My Mom made a mad dash to Target and bought the correct size,   then we figured out the costumes seams were torn, probably because some 10 year old squeezed himself into the costume splitting the seams and mommy returned it without telling Target.  So at 5:30 on Halloween, Cinderelly whipped out her needle and thread and sewed it together.   Here are Sport and Pumpkin ready for Trick-Or-Treat by 5:45.

Now here is my favorite costume of the year…baby Yoda. Thanks to Four Little Sparrows for the hat pattern.  It worked wonderfully.  The only change I made as I sewed a crease in the middle of each ear.  The cloak is made from felt, I simply cut a hole for the head and there was his costume. 

The Star Wars Halloween has come and gone, The Clone Trooper, Jawa and Yoda costumes are now in the dress up box.  I wonder who will visit next year?  Will princesses be back?  Will Star Wars still be the thing?  Will we go gory or cutesy?  I can’t wait to see.

Wordless Wednesday

 

 

Octopus for Dinner

Here is  the latest meal made especially for my finicky eater.


My daughter will eat just about anything, my son is another story.  He likes the usual kids stuff: sloppy Joes, spaghetti, chicken nuggets and spaghetti.  I usually serve some kid friendly meals two to three times a week, but there are days I just can’t do it and I make meals for Mommy and Daddy.  Then there are days that I just make dinner for them, and this was one of them.

I made a pasta salad with, mixed vegetables, served with octopus, a.k.a. a hotdog, and sprinkled with goldfish crackers and parmesan cheese.  The trick to the hotdogs, is after you cut the legs, boil the hotdog until it’s heated through.  This meal was a HUGE hit.