Week in Review 4/8/10

It seems our oldest has some friends that don't think highly of us. We got egged again. Uck. This time she had manage the clean-up on her own, so she could learn why we don't egg people ... or hang out with people who egg us. Easter weekend was much better after the clean-up was finished.

General conference is always a treat for me and this year we started a new tradition. We each packed up our own 72 hour kit in our own backpacks during the last conference. This time we started eating from them and will repack them with new food items as soon as they're empty. I want to make sure that these kits stay usable and that we're not putting things in them that the kids won't eat ... or that don't keep well. It was funny to see the kids get so excited about the whole event.

We went to a baby shower for a cousin on Saturday and got to bring a new appliqued baby blanket and set of cute burp cloths. I'm not sure why I have such a thing for making handmade gifts ... I just can't help myself. Sunday we did an indoor/outdoor egg hunt with our nephew. The rest of the week was fairly mellow, no major mishaps and no one was grounded for life. I even got to teach my scouts how to make a few quick desserts for their families. All in all it was great. Now, we're really headed into spring - allergies and all. Yikes.

The Sock Partay!

Holy hoopla, this has been a busy couple of weeks. Just about every extra minute was spent either making gifts, or shuttling kids out to get their shopping done. And now ... we are kid-free. Weird. We flip holidays with the other parents so this is our 'off' year for Christmas. It's quiet. Weird. But before the children abandoned us we were able to squeeze in some good holiday memories.

Sunday night we went to check out Christmas Utah (aka the Clark Griswold of SLC). It was a riot as always. I can't imagine how long it must take to get all of those lights set up, not to mention choreographing the music and light show to go with it. The kids love it though and it really is amazing to watch the lights dance.Monday was the infamous "Sock Party" at hubby's folks' house. This is always the Monday before Christmas and the whole family comes for dinner, presents and sock stuffing. It's such a fun tradition for everyone. It's a chance for us to all get together and visit and give everyone a little something in their stocking. After dinner we set a big PVC frame over the dining room table and all the families hang their stockings up. Then we get to go around and put little goodies in them. At the end of the shindig, the families scoop up their socks and take them home to check out the loot. The kids are so cute about it. This is one tradition I will definitely carry on with our own family down the road.

Cupcakes Galore!

The votes came in. The votes were tallied. OK. Truthfully, I decided that I didn't have enough time to mess around with a new recipe and realized we devoured all but 2 bananas this weekend due to massive crepe consumption. So! I split the order ... 1/2 devil's food with milk chocolate frosting and 1/2 carrot cake topped with cream cheese frosting. That works, right?The chimi party was a hit as always. I love family get togethers! I really, really do. There's just something about a houseful of people you love, people you know will be there through thick and thin, laughing and chatting, surrounded by good food that just gets me every time. This one was especially nice because we also had family pictures taken by a family friend. We had almost the entire troop there and all the kids were very cooperative. But the grouping that killed me was seeing all the grandkids pose around hubby's parents. Oh! To have that. I want that one day. It was truly beautiful and a real tribute to these two wonderful people. I love them so much!

Choices ... Choices ...

I get to bring cupcakes to our families annual Chimi Party. We're celebrating my nephew's birthday on the same day and a handful of neighboring birthdays. I just can't decide what to bring. I think I've narrowed it down to these three choices:Banana cupcakes, since I have 4 bunches of them in my kitchen right now.Ice cream cone cupcakes, since this is the "Ice Cream Grandma's" house. These would be hard to transport though.Or pumpkin cupcakes to help welcome in the season. Now, to choose just one ... wish me luck.