last week I learned.

Last week I learned that:

driving my boys to swimming lessons a total of 6 times is exhausting. Spencer is done for now...phew!

Making sugar cookies with two wild boys can be a lot of fun if you have the patience. It's fun to be a proud mom and hear your son tell his class all about his "Star Student" poster.

Parker likes to wear his hair to school like this. His exact words were, "Mom, other boys in my class come to school with crazy hair!"

Parker really enjoyed bringing Kinderbear home for the night and writing about their time together in the class book.

Getting money in the mail for your birthday is about the coolest thing ever. (Thanks Great Grandma Jean)

Getting Valentine's cards in the mail with money in them totally rock!

That making 28 candy tractors for Parker's birthday treat for school resulted in 4 hours of my life that I will never get back!

I love Betty Crocker cake mix and frosting! I know these are pathetic, but Parker loved them.

Having a pizza picnic in the kitchen with 16 kids is the only way to go.

That these cute girls have some sweet dance moves:)

I love having all my sisters at my house!

what a week.

Do you ever have days or weeks where you know if you get through it without a nervous breakdown or your head exploding then you will be happy?
I just survived one such week....don't worry I will be telling you all about it!

create

Create

I love this!

cheese, how I love thee.

Chocolate raspberry cheesecake:

1 1/2 cups oreo cookie crumbs
2 T butter, melted
4 pkg (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 c (8 oz) sour cream
1 t vanilla
3 eggs, lightly beaten
9 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped
1/2 c seedless raspberry preserves
Topping
6 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped
1/3 c heavy whipping cream
fresh raspberries and whipped cream, optional (but not really:)

Combine cookie crumbs and butter, press into a greased 9 inch springform pan.

In a large bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Beat in sour cream and vanilla. Add eggs: beat on low speed just until combined. Set aside 1 1/2 cups; pour remaining batter over crust.

In microwave, melt chocolate; stir in preserves until blended. Stir in reserved batter just until blended. Drop by tablespoonfuls over the plain batter (do not swirl). Place springform pan on baking sheet; add 1 inch of hot water to pan.

Bake at 325 degrees for 65-75 min or until center is just set and top appears dull. Remove springform pan from water bath. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Carefully run a knife around edge of pan to loosen; cool 1 hour longer.

For topping, place chocolate in a small bowl. In a small saucepan, bring cream just to a boil. Pour over chocolate; whisk until smooth. Cool slightly. Spread over top of cheesecake. Refrigerate overnight. Garnish with raspberries and whipped cream if desired.

Here is another one of my favorite recipes. I found it in one of my mom's magazines a couple years ago.

Strawberry Mascarpone Crepes

Filling:
1 c (8 oz) mascarpone cheese
2 T powdered sugar
3 t minced fresh basil
1 t lemon juice
1 1/2 c sliced strawberries

Batter:
3 eggs
3/4 c plus 2 T milk
3/4 c flour
5 t butter, melted
1 T sugar
1 t vanilla
1/4 t salt

Topping:
2 cups sliced strawberries
1/2 c sugar
1 t vanilla or strawberry extract
dash salt

For filling, in Small bowl, combine cheese, sugar, basil, and lemon juice. Gently fold in strawberries. Cover and refrigerate 30 min.

Meanwhile in a blender combine the batter ingredients; process until smooth. Let stand 30 min.

For topping, combine strawberries, sugar, extract, and salt. Let stand 30 min.

Melt some butter in a 8 inch non-stick skillet. Pour 1/4 cup batter and move around to cover bottom. Cook until done.

Fill crepes with cheese filling and roll up and top with strawberry yumminess!

***Now this last recipe is sort of pricey, so it is a special treat to make for breakfast (or dinner)! But it is so good and it's fun to try new ingredients and find that you love them.

I love trying new recipes. So I hope you enjoy these!

I might try to venture into the sushi realm...it's intimidating so if anyone knows how to make it please teach me!

another little swimmer.

I thought I better post pics of Parker in swim lessons. He has perma-grin the whole time. After his second lesson he said, "Mom, I thought swimming was going to be easy, but it's hard!" The teacher tried to have him swim a very short distance and he sunk like a stone...we've got some work to do:) Parker always thinks everything will be easy so it's good for him to be humbled just a lil' bit.This is my latest thing in Mataya's room. I bought these silk flowers and just added them to the knobs on her dresser. Her dresser is one that we got when Parker was a baby so it's been well-loved and used so I wanted to add a little something to it without doing anything major (like painting or staining). So a few dollars later....and we've got a little added cutesy in her room.

Heather, you are right having Mataya has made me more crafty indead!

another craft, really?

I made this little boxwood topiary! I got the idea from Tales and Trials. (You can go there to find a step by step how-to).

I modified mine a bit. I used mod podge and paper to cover the pot instead of paint. And she suggested using a stick from your yard, but I don't exactly have any of those. The oldest tree in our yard is 4 years old and we planted it and I don't think the hubs would've appreciated me sawing a branch off of it! I just used a wooden dowel and didn't have any dark paint so I wrapped it with brown ribbon.

The greenery took a while to do because I had to stick the little pieces in one at a time. Cory sat and watched me do it and he was just shaking his head the whole time and he finally said, "I'm sitting here watching you do this and I just want to throw that little ball in the air and shoot it with a gun!" Thanks, babe!

Sorry if you are sick of seeing all my crafty posts. Mataya's room is looking so cute, I'm finally excited about it! And another thing, I made this for under $6!

nemo ain't got nothing on him.

Cory and I decided it was time to get Spencer into swim lessons. I went online and looked and found one that was starting in a few days and they had one opening so I signed him up and today was his first class. Here he is with the instructor floating on him back and kicking. He was a little resistant on this one, but he did what she asked him to do.

Spenc got to play with a little dino at one point during class. It was a pachycephalosaurus to be exact:) Doing some kicking and splashing. He was a little nervous at first, but by the end he LOVED it. We are so happy to see Spencer try new things....including food. He's coming around on that one. Looking forward to class tomorrow!