st. patty's

We love St. Patrick's Day around here.  The kids love their traditional Lucky Charms breakfast,  green lunch and we all enjoy corned beef and cabbage for dinner.  This year however I wanted to add something new, a surprise since the kids all know that the special breakfast, lunch and dinner are coming.

I had seen a rainbow layered cake show up a few times on the internet and I figured it would make a great St. Patty's day dessert.  

I LOVE THIS DESSERT!  

It was time consuming baking so many layers (I was wishing I had a double oven) but it was so easy especially since I used box cake mix and canned frosting.

Excuse the picture quality - cell phone and poor lighting  does not equal up to quality photos.

the cake before being completely frosted

the family was surprised when we cut into the plain white cake

(I surrounded the cake with Rolos for little pots of gold)

You need to get on Google and search rainbow layered cakes to see what people have done - they are all so cute.

low key 4th

We stuck close to home for the 4th this year.  We usually do something with Derek's family but with Grammy Baker being out of town for the holiday we did our own thing.  We had a few invitations to the beach but that was not an option because of Nathan (post coming about the who, what, where, when of this) 

We decided to relax at home in the morning and then in the afternoon we hit the movies to Wall-E.  Cute movie but not my favorite Pixar.  It didn't help that I was terribly tired (anyone have some sleep aid helps - I'm just not sleeping at night)  

We tried yet another of the multitude of frozen yogurt shops that are opening all around us. I can't even remember the name of it which doesn't really matter since I'm totally a G Spoon gal. I really do like Golden Spoon better then all the others.  The one place G Spoon could improve is in their decor - the red & gold are not my favorite and I hate the mirrored walls - do we really need to watch ourselves stuff food down our throats?  The yogurt however I love!  No I am not a paid spokesperson but will gladly accept all coupons and gift cards from anyone working at Golden Spoon.  Done with that rant!

We tried unsuccessfully to talk the kids out of going to watch fireworks - unpatriotic I know but have you forgotten...I'm not sleeping!  Derek was pretty tired at this point too yet we could only successfully persuade the girls and Luke to stay home - Nate was determined to get us out to see the night sky aflame with fireworks.  We headed over to Ladera and watched the fireworks from an apartment complex.  We ran into the Calls from our ward so my boys were happy to have someone to pal around with.  It was a nice night and to be honest I'm glad we went.  Thanks Nate for being so stubborn!

we heart daddy!

While Derek got a much deserved Father's Day nap after church the kids and I got busy with meal preparations. While the roast was cooking we started on the apples for Derek's requested dessert - apple crisp.  We got to try out the apple peeler that we got from Bernice.  Why did I not have this gadget before now?!?!  We whipped through a bunch of apples getting them peeled, cored and cut in no time.
Luke was especially happy about the "apple peel spaghetti"
The table was set and we were able to sit down to enjoy our Father's Day feast.  Roast, potatoes, carrots, onions, corn, green beans, gravy and rolls were all on the menu - Derek's favorite meal.  
Of course the day wouldn't be complete without lots of little handmade love notes from the kids.
Here is what the kids love about their dad...

Nathan "I love him because he is my daddy.  He helped me with my pine wood derby car.  I love him because I love him."

Luke "I love daddy because he is silly and cause I love him.  I love him because he is awesome."

Megan and Emily's comments to come - I haven't had a chance to talk with them yet and I have been working on this post for 2 days and just want to get it posted so that we can let Derek know we love him and we hope he had a nice Father's Day.

just what i wanted

On Mothers Day I woke up to lots of hugs and kisses (always a favorite) and then proceeded to open up the Mothers Day gift that Luke made at school (a cute frame with a picture of an even cuter boy)  He had been trying to give me the gift days before Mothers Day - he was having a hard time waiting.

Then I opened a gift from Derek and the kids...a lens that I had been hearing about from my photography friends.  What a great surprise!  I am anxious to start using it.  Maybe it is magical and will help make all my pictures perfect or perhaps I should just continue to take classes, read photography books and keep shooting.

The Mothers Day hoopla continued with Derek saying he would teach my Primary class so that I could go to Sunday School and Relief Society.  At church the men made smoothies for all the woman and gave us some chocolates.

The rest of the day was spent together as family and going to dinner at Bernice's house.  It was a very nice Mothers Day.  I appreciate all that Derek and the kids did to make it a special day.  

I also appreciate my mom and mom in law for all that they have done for me and my family.   I'm thankful for their examples and for the things that I have learned from them.  

It is also a blessing to have so many good woman around me that set an example for me to follow.  I have amazing friends and family that are great examples of motherhood.  

hola

You gotta love a holiday that encourages eating mexican food!

We celebrated Cinco de Mayo by having a small little Fiesta at our neighborhood park.  It was a bit cold here in So. California yesterday so we built a big bonfire and loaded our tummys with warm food to keep warm. Carne asada, chicken, rice, beans, tortillas, salsa, guacamole and all the toppings - yum! 

I didn't get many pictures - in fact all I took was the ones here so excuse my lameness - I was to involved in eating :) but I still wanted to post the pictures to document our day.  I have been working on turning our blog into a book (more in another post) and I have become a bit disappointed with the pages that have no pictures so my goal is to try and include at least one picture with every post.  We'll see how well I do with that.

we interrupt blog catch-up to bring you april fool's

For our April Fool's dinner we had chicken pot pie and for dessert we had cupcakes.

Where is the fooling in that you ask?  The pot pie was made with vanilla pudding for gravy, dried pineapple slices for chicken, and candy for corn, peas and carrots.  

I was especially fond of the corn.  Who knew that nuking some Starbursts in the microwave could create such a good "clay" to mold little corn kernels?!?!?  The carrots were also Starbursts and the peas were nuked Airheads rolled into little balls.

The cupcakes were made from meatloaf and covered in purple mashed potato frosting.  We have had the cupcakes for previous April Fool's dinners  so the kids weren't as surprised by them (Luke was - he was obviously to young to remember the last time) but the chicken pot pie was a hit.  

luck of the irish

Bring on the green lunch it's St Patrick's Day.  Our traditional St Patty's lunch consisted of green packaged goodies and a sandwich roll-up with a spinach tortilla , meat and...

green mayo.  Nothing yummier then green mayo.

The leprechauns snuck into the house and set the table for dinner, leaving behind a wealth of chocolate coins.

We had a rainbow of fruit (yes, I did forget to buy green honeydew or kiwi)

And of course we had our favorite Irish meal - corned beef and cabbage.  The cabbage ended up a bit too mushy because dinner was planned for 6pm but we ended up not eating until about 8pm.  Derek got held up at work and the kids did not want to have St. Patty's day dinner without him (I thought that was cute of them) so we all worked through the hunger pains until Derek could get home.

Happy St. Patrick's day from the Baker's

lots of love

Happy Valentines Day.  We started the day off with a Valentines breakfast of  heart shaped doughnuts from Kripsy Kreme, strawberry milk and strawberry yogurt.  I also blessed the kids with a beautiful rendition of a made-up Valentines song while they ate - musical talent at it's finest.

I sent the kids off to school with their traditional Valentines lunches which consist of a multitude of red foods - turkey wrap in a sun dried tomato/basil tortilla, red jello, red gatorade, strawberries, frosted sugar cookie, and pringles (because they come in a red package)

The boys took Valentines to share at school.  I had started them yesterday afternoon but only got about a 1/4 of the way done before I had to put them aside to help with homework. Sometime around 12:30 this morning I remembered that they hadn't been finished. After a temporary bit of a breakdown I got to work. The whole time I kept telling myself "thank goodness that only 2 are in elementary school"  I do not miss the days of putting together 100 valentines - 40 seemed so much more reasonable this year.  I never got a picture of the Valentines (my card is full)  We took pop rocks and made a "you rock/happy valentines day" label.

Not sure what fanciness I will pull out for our Valentines Day dinner.  I am sure you will all be on the edge of your seats with wonder.  Does Kraft Mac n Cheese seem appropriate for the holiday?  With a little food coloring I think it could fit the bill.

To close...a little love shout out to Derek, Megan, Emily, Nathan and Luke - love you guys!

welcome 2008

Wishing everyone a great New Year. We are happy to be starting the new year off healthy - finally! We are looking forward to a great year!