Food

Cookie decorating

Posted in Celebrations, Food on December 22nd, 2020 by c-had – Be the first to comment

It was Christmas Cookie Day!

Leah said, "Now I know why people don’t want to eat them. It’s like eating a work of art." She was pretty proud of her cookies.

Cookie decorating

Cookie decorating

Cookie decorating

Cookie decorating

Cookie decorating

Full set of Christmas cookies

Happy birthday Grams and Caroline

Posted in Celebrations, Food on June 28th, 2020 by c-had – Be the first to comment

We had our first socially-distant family gathering to celebrate Beth and Caroline's birthdays today. Jen made her first Smith Island Cake. It only took living in Maryland for 17 years for her to bake the official state dessert. It got thumbs up all around!

Happy birthday Grams and Caroline

Smith Island Cake

Happy birthday Grams and Caroline

Baking camp

Posted in Food, Leah on August 27th, 2018 by c-had – Be the first to comment

Leah attended a baking camp in June and came home asking to practice. Since Jen is an expert baker, she and Leah made some cupcakes then sent them virtually to Aunt Caroline as a birthday gift.

Confectionary camp practice

Leah also baked some banana bread muffins, which are a staple in our house!

Second round of baking

Leah brought home her creations from baking camp each day. After a few days, there were lots of uneaten leftovers, so I made myself a sampler platter.

Baking camp leftovers

Krispy Kreme

Posted in Food, Leah, Molly on July 1st, 2018 by c-had – Be the first to comment

We have a Krispy Kreme near us! Krispy Kreme doughnuts are not found much around us (unlike Dunkin’ Donuts, which are everywhere). But we’ve got one now. It opened in Catonsville (a neighboring town) the same day that G’Mom and Grampa were flying home. So, Jen dropped them off at the airport super early (like 6), then got in line to get some opening day doughnuts for us. The girls approved.

Krispy Kreme

For their first doughnuts from our new Krispy Kreme, Molly went for a chocolate iced cream filled, while Leah chose the strawberry iced with sprinkles.

First doughnuts

Chomp

Christmas cookies

Posted in Celebrations, Family outings, Food, Leah, Molly on December 23rd, 2015 by c-had – Be the first to comment

Per tradition, the girls went to Grams’s house to bake Christmas cookies. Sadly this year Aunt Caroline was not around to help since she no longer lives nearby. We miss you Aunt Caroline.

Christmas cookies

Baking cookies with Aunt EA meant they also got to hang out a bit with Charlie. Leah thought that was great, though Charlie seems a bit bored by it all.

Leah and Charlie

Charlie is excellent at staring. Molly’s smile doesn’t stand a chance at getting him to blink.

Staring

A night out

Posted in Food on April 8th, 2014 by c-had – 1 Comment

With G’Mom and Grampa in town, they let us head out for a fancy dinner at Woodberry Kitchen. This picture is in honor of E.A. and Scott, my sister and brother-in-law, as they love to post this pose again and again.

Fancy dinner

Dinner was fun. Lots of creative, farm-to-table yummy food.

Fun dinner

Hooray for our first fancy dinner out in a while.

For the love of cookies!

Posted in Food, Leah, Molly, Playdates on February 22nd, 2012 by jen – 3 Comments

On Monday, I hosted my second Drop In & Decorate party. The idea is simple: decorate sugar cookies, then donate them to a local non-profit agency.

My sous-chefs helped me prep our sugar cookies. I had 5 other moms baking for me and in total we had 18 dozen cookies to decorate!

Prepping cookies

The moms and kids were invited to drop in during the day and decorate for as long as they liked.

A cookie party

Molly enjoyed using a rainbow of colors on all her cookies.

One color is not enough

Leah and I worked together to decorate.

Teamwork

Adding sprinkles was a must. And even now that I have swept the floors three times, those sprinkles keep showing up!

Looking out for little brother

It was fun to watch and see what each of the kids created.

Watching the artist

Even the moms got into the decorating spirit.

Fun for moms too

Lots of giggles and laughter came from this table!

A table of friends

The kids were allowed to eat one cookie after they finished decorating. Apparently, the full plate of sprinkles were part of the deal too.

Sprinkles, yum!

Here's a sample of the decorated cookies.

A select few

In the end, thirty moms and kids decorated approximately 200 cookies to donate to Grassroots Crisis Intervention Center.

200 cookies later

Thank you to all of my cookie volunteers for making our party such a huge success!

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Party

Posted in Celebrations, Family visits, Food, Kid crafts, Leah, Molly on September 28th, 2011 by jen – 5 Comments

A told B, and B told C
“I'll meet you at the house
for Leah's party!”

“Whee!” said D to E F G
“Are you coming to see
the coconut tree?”

Chicka chicka boom boom!
Will there be enough room?
We'll find out when you RSVP!

Chickaboombanner

When Leah consistently started choosing Chicka Chicka Boom Boom for a bedtime story, I knew it would be the perfect theme for her 2nd birthday. The party started with making Boom Boom shakers. It takes a lot of concentration to fill a shaker with beads.

Boom Boom shakers

Yeah, stickers!

The kids then sat for a reading of Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and used their shakers to go boom boom!

A reading

To the surprise of many, I did not make the cake this time. Chad convinced me to focus on the rest of the party prep and have it made by Oh What a Cake. It was great decision and a great cake.

Chicka Boom cake

The basic story of Chicka Chicka Boom Boom is about the alphabet climbing to the top of the coconut tree. So, naturally we had to have one present.

The coconut tree

Thanks for inspiring silly ways to play with balloons, Uncle J!

Balloon belly

Leah was so excited for the birthday song that she even sang it to herself!

Singing Happy Birthday

To fully appreciate the taste of the cake, Leah thought it necessary to close her eyes. Though, when you do that you must open your mouth as wide as you can to make sure it gets in.

Can't get enough cake

Who needs a fork? Icing, finger, tongue.

Who needs a fork?

Then it was present time and the kids were definitely present.

Gather round

Leah's very into baby dolls right now. This one came with a bottle, which was a big hit.

Baby doll and bottle

She also enjoyed reading a fun, new book.

Fun new book

And as a party favor, guests left with colorful alphabet cookies.

Alphabet cookies

Skit skat skoodle doot.
Flip flop flee.
Thanks for coming
To Leah’s party!

Making goodies and gifts

Posted in Food, Sewing on August 17th, 2011 by jen – Be the first to comment

These chocolate peanut butter cupcakes were for our Bible study. There is a debate in our house as to whether the peanut butter cream cheese icing plus the surprise peanut butter inside was ENOUGH peanut butter! And as a side note, chilled peanut butter cream cheese icing tastes extra yummy!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes

Leah's friend, Rachel, turned 2. So, I made her a Lucy jumper for her birthday. She can wear it now, and layer it with a shirt when the weather becomes cooler.

Fall dress for Rachel

I just can't resist making these whale jon jons for baby boys. This one is for Camp, our friends Gabe and Helen's little boy.

Whale jon jon again

Celebrating all things PINK

Posted in Food, Kid crafts, Leah, Molly, Playdates on June 28th, 2011 by jen – 1 Comment

We have a lover of all things pink in our house, so when National Pink Day came around on June 23rd, I knew we had to celebrate! I hosted a Pinkalicious Party in honor of the day.

I decided to make our reading of Pinkalicious a bit more fun. I had the girls stand-up or sit-down every time I said the word pink or cupcake. Do you know how many times those are said in this book?! Oh.my.goodness. A lot! They eventually gave up and just sat and listened.

We had some pinktastic treats: strawberry cupcakes and strawberry pink lemonade. I used these free printables for the cupcake toppers.

Happy PINK Day

And of course there was a pinkerific craft! The girls painted with glue to create Pinkalicious magnets.

Pinkerella magnets

The girls came dressed for the occasion and had a fun time celebrating all things pink!

Girls in pink

And Leah enjoyed getting in on the cupcake action too.

Mmmm, cupcakes!