Gnocchi!

Growing up, gnocchi was not one of my favorite foods:  gluey, heavy, little lumps of dough...yuck!  Then I married into a family where gnocchi seems to be a family favorite.  Sigh.  In the interest of keeping everyone happy at the dinner table, at least occasionally, I found a recipe and learned to make them.  Lo and behold, that recipe I LOVED!  So now, on occasion, the kids and I make a giant batch of gnocchi and freeze some.

A while back, Don decided to surprise me and make a batch of gnocchi.  In the end, I think he used a full ten pound bag of potatoes, so we had lots for the freezer, which is one of my favorite things.  Don and I make these completely differently.....


...he boils his potatoes, I bake mine.



Draining...

...and peeling the potatoes.

Mine contain potatoes, eggs, cheese, salt, pepper, and nutmeg.  His contain potatoes, egg, and....

...flour.  That's it.

I cut mine and roll them on a fork to give them the distinctive ridges.  He...

...cuts them and pushes them wtih his thumb.

We both try to let the kids help.

And we both end up with trays of yumminess!

I think, on this day, he wound up with enough gnocchi for 5 dinners or so.  I love that!  Having things on hand for those days when life gets in the way of cooking dinner is priceless in this family.  And even though our recipes and methods are totally different, having him take the initiative to have a "gnocchi day" with the kids goes really, really far towards bridging the gap. 

Even Maddie got to be at the table "helping"!

And any smart woman will tell you, if your husband decides to surprise you and cook dinner, only open your mouth to put in more food!  (And Don is a good cook, too!)

Our first Daisy Scout Meeting!

Among the things that are keeping me ridiculously busy these days is our brand new Daisy Girl Scout troop. Daisies are the youngest girl scouts- kindergartners and first graders.  Our troop is only kindergartners, and we have only 5 girls right now.  I've mentioned this troop before, but between one thing and another, it has taken us a long time to get off the ground.

We actually had our first troop meeting on February 5th, and it went very well!

Here are my little Daisies:

Emma

Abby

I really needed to get this troop moving, so we could take advantage of the Girl Scout Cookie sale.  That's right, it's cookie season!  From February 11 to March 27, Abby and Emma are selling Girl Scout cookies.  Hooray!  (No big sales pitch, here, I promise.  However, I do have all of your favorites available!)  This is a picture of the stock of cookies left AFTER the other 3 girls picked up their cookies:

Doesn't look too bad, does it?  The week before, I had 41 cases of cookies stacked in our entry.  I wish I could show you a picture of that!  I ordered enough for each girl to have 5 assorted cases of cookies, with 3 extra girls' worth left over.  I think we may get another girl or two in the near future, and I wanted to be ready.  Plus, this will keep me from having to run to the Cookie Cupboard quite as often.

Anyway, back to our first meeting.  I spent the better part of the afternoon making this:

We are holding our meetings in one of the preschool rooms at our church, and are unable to have a permanent bulletin board, so I made a portable one.  The space underneath the colorful letters is reserved for our craft project at our next meeting, so I will be sure to post a picture when it is full.  Here are the other components of the board:

One of the first things the girls learn is the Girl Scout Promise.  This is the craft we did at our meeting, to help the girls learn it.  I figured if they were hung up in a strategic spot, they could learn it while they were eating breakfast, brushing teeth, etc.  I hung one on the refrigerator, and Abby and Emma seem to know it already!

At this age, the girls don't earn badges, they earn Daisy petals.  They earn the center of the flower when they know the Girl Scout Promise.  I made a spot on our board to track their progress:

This is a black and white, 200% enlargment of the patches they will earn.  As every girl in the troop completes a petal, we will replace the black and white image with a copy of the colored image.  As I said, the center is for the Promise.  Each petal is a different color, and corresonds to a different aspect of the Girl Scout Law.

Here is the Girl Scout Law, with the words printed in the colors of their corresponding petals:

The girls will get to choose which petal to work on next.  It would be nice if they chose according to the words, but I have a feeling they will choose based on their favorite colors!

Since I've never been a Girl Scout myself, and neither has my co-leader (or, I think, any of the other parents!), I've made a section called "Did You Know?"  I will be putting up facts about Juliette Gordon Low, the woman who founded Girl Scouts in 1912.  Although the girls need to learn about her too, I really like this part for my own knowledge. (As a girl, Juliette's nickname was Daisy, and that is why the little girls are called Daisy Scouts.  Do you feel enlightened?)

We're also going to have a "Song of the Week".  This is the song I thought I was going to teach them at the last meeting, but I chickened out.  Instead, we learned "Make New Friends".  But, Abby, Emma and I have been practicing this one for next time.

If there are any current or former Girl Scouts reading this, or any current or former leaders, I could sure use some ideas!  Email them to  me, leave a comment on this post, or otherwise contact me.  It won't be long before the girls know more than I do!

Well, It SEEMED like a good idea!

The last week of January, I got a new knitting magazine in the mail.  As I always do, I sat down right away and marked any projects that caught my eye.  Frequently, I mark projects, then get sidetracked, or come to my senses, or otherwise change my mind.  This time was different.  I found this:

from the March 2011 issue of Creative Knitting,
designed by Sara Louise Harper

I instantly thought this outfit would be so cute for each of the little girls, in their "signature colors" for Easter.  After talking to Don, I ordered the yarn.  Not the exact yarn called for, but a more affordable option.  Then I set out to finish a few more WIPs (works in progress), to "clear the decks" for my new purchases.  (Yep, so much for the New Year's Goal!)  And then, The Box arrived.  It had to have been the biggest box I've ever received from JoAnn.com.  I unpacked the yarn:

I guess I should have expected it, but some how, 5 balls of blue, 5 of pink, 5 of purple, 4 of yellow, 11 of cream and 1 of green sounded like a lot less in my head.  Unpacking that box, I felt totally overwhelmed.  What had I gotten into?  And I stretched the budget to buy it; I was committed now, or the girls wouldn't have Easter dresses. 
That night, I got started on Katie's dress.  She gets the blue, of course.  This is the beginning:

Ten rows of cream colored 2x2 rib, and the beginning row of the blue color.  So far, so good.  I think I can do this.  After getting to this point, I decided that I'm not really skilled enough to knit separate pieces of a dress at different times, and have them come out exactly the same length.  So, I cast on the back piece at the same time.  This means I was knitting 2 different pieces, on the same needle, with 2 balls of yarn.  Are you with me so far?  The first 17 inches were easy:  identical directions.  The hardest part was keeping the yarn from tangling, which still wasn't bad.  Time to cast off for armholes and neckline.  Different for each pieces, but still pretty easy.  Time too finish the arms.  This is a sleeveless dress, so it was really just armholes.  Now, I was knitting 2 pieces, on one needle, from 4 balls of yarn.  A little more challenging!  Just about the time I was thinking the twisted yarn was going to win, I discovered I was done!  Yay me!  I sat down that night and seamed the two pieces, which was a first for me.  Then, I had to pick up and knit the contrasting ribbing for the neck and sleeves, and presto, I was done, except for the embroidered details.

Yay!  And it fits her!!  Double Yay!  From the time I unpacked the yarn until I took my last stitch was only 8 days, and 2 of those days I never picked it up at all, so I'm thinking that this is very doable!  Especially since Easter is late this year.  My plan is to knit the 4 dresses, then the 4 sweaters, then do the little details.  If there is time and yarn left over, I will make them little purses too.  And yesterday, Emma asked if I could knit them hair bows.  I feel like it's all possible!

Yesterday afternoon, I started Emma's dress, but modified the pattern.  Instead of knitting 2 separate pieces and seaming them later, I joined the pieces to knit in the round.  Not only is knitting faster for me than purling (which is eliminated by doing this), I won't have to do the seaming either.  This is how far I got last night:

Almost to the halfway mark.  Not bad for about 3 hours of knititng!  I will definitely keep you posted!

Homemade Pasta, Brittany style

After our homemade ravioli day, we had some extra pasta dough left, so Brittany agreed to roll it and make fettucine with it.  She agreed to let me take pictures, so long as I didn't show her face, so here she is!

Rolling the dough.



As usual, there's never a shortage of people waiting to help!



Cutting the noodles.



Emma has a turn with the pasta machine.



Sprinkling the noodles with flour, so they won't stick.



Separating the noodles.






Look at those fingers fly!



Rolling the noodles into "nests".

Ready for drying!

I love having children that can function in the kitchen!  Such a nice treat to be cooked for once in a while!

First Milestone of the New Year!

Last week, on January 1, we made the decision to get rid of Maddie's crib.  For one thing, the poor crib had been through at least 4 children, and was showing the wear and tear, in the form of a critical screw that kept falling out. (This being the screw that allowed the drop side to move up and down, or stay in place.  Like I said, critical!)

So, we took the offending furniture out, loaded it into the truck, and carted it off to the dump.  Then, Don came home and took Katie's bed apart, and installed it in Madison's room.  While he was occupied elsewhere, I rearranged the furniture.  That room now houses a twin bed, a twin bed that pulls out to a king size, a dresser/changing table, stand alone wardrobe, bookcase, and chair.  Miraculously, it all fits in with room to spare, and there are no bits of furniture near the railing, which is VERY important!

That left Katie without a bed, which she was strangely ok with.  She talked briefly about sharing a room with Maddie, and was quite upbeat about having given up her bed.  Then, we mentioned that we bought her a set of bunk beds, which quite changed her tune!  Don assembled them in the bedroom, not without some difficulty!  That room is home to all 3 girls, and so now includes 2 sets of bunk beds, 3 dressers, 3 hampers, and LOTS of little girl clothes, shoes, toys, etc.  But, Don made it work, because that's the kind of guy he is!

I resisted writing a post about this until now, because I didn't want to push our luck.  Jinx the whole idea of Madison in a "big girl" bed, if you will.  On the first night, I sat in her room with her, but out of sight.  She was asleep within 15 minutes, and didn't get out of bed once!  Yay!!  Then, 2 am rolled around.  I could hear her, pulling on the baby gate that blocks off her room.  GROAN!  I went in and laid down with her, and was asleep again before she was.  But, she didn't get out of bed again, and did fall asleep.  We've had no problems with her at all since, and even nap times go smoothly.  Hooray, I guess she was ready!

And now, here are the pictures of the new arrangements:

Maddie, in her new bed, on the first night.

Maddie, after I rearranged her a little bit.  She began to stir, so I beat a hasty retreat!





Katie, in her new top bunk.





The empty bunk, which Maddie will move into eventually.





 

Abby in the top bunk, Emma in the bottom.






So you can see, we have a ridiculous amount of beds and beddings in our house!

Happy New Year!

Wow, I've been away for a long time!  I've had the best intentions....every week, the item "write new blog" appears on my "to do" list, but this holiday season appears to have really knocked my best intentions all out of whack!

We've had a busy last couple of weeks.  Some of the our family activities, in no particular order, include kindergarten class parties (4 of them in one week, not counting the winter carnival!), performing for the MOPS group, attending the church Advent Night, a cookie baking/swapping party with friends, the twins' birthday party, bringing home the class "pet" (each twin), visiting Santa, traveling to see family, 2 ravioli days, and Christmas, with all that entails.  Whew!  Here is a kind of a photo journal synposis of the last month:

Abby and Fleegle, the class "pet", enjoying hot chocolate. (Each kid in class brings the stuffed animal home for a weekend, then writes a journal page about what they did.)

Emma and Fleegle, the very next week, at the school Winterfest carnival.

Katie, performing at the MOPS Christmas party.

Abby and Emma, with turning six!

Our Santa picture, after a long wait in line.  Maddie hadn't had a nap either...no wonder she's not happy!

All four kindergarten classes, performing at the school Christmas concert.  Fortunately, it was just kindergarten, or we might still be there.

Katie and Abby, decorating gingerbread cookies for the first time.  Lots of fun, and less mess than I thought it would be.

Sprinkling "reindeer food" on the front lawn, Christmas Eve night.

Brianna and Brittany, hanging their stockings "by the chimney with care."

The quietest moment of our entire Christmas Day...waiting to go downstairs to see what Santa brought.

Learning to roller skate...thanks Santa!

Maddie, enjoying our movie day.

Various shots of ravioli day, as captured by the girls.  Top to bottom:  Tori and Abby, Tori rolling pasta dough, and Sydney, cutting ravioli.

My hope is that as you look back on 2010, you have many memories to cherish, and that looking forward to 2011, you will make many more.

From our family to yours, a very Happy New Year!