Christmas Presents

Christmas was great, we were showered with gifts and love and joy. But my very favorite gift came this morning when Ben let me sleep in while he fed and entertained the children. I lounged in bed until 9:30 denying the existence of a world beyond the sheets. Merry Christmas

Recipes That Don't Work #43

So we were invited to a Family Night at our neighbors and prepared to make brownies to share. Here is the secret recipe for brownies that don't work:

Ingredients:
1 box of brownie mix
water
oil
egg
mini marshmallows
heat source - preferably an oven

1- Mix together the water, oil and egg
2- add brownie mix
3- bake as directed
4- 3 minutes before it finishes baking, brainstorm how to make them just a little more special - settle on the idea of adding marshmallows to the top and letting them toast. Sounds delicious and definitely something that has been done on cupcakes.
5- Act on this impulse. Pull the brownies out and sprinkle mini marshmallows across the top then re-insert into the oven and crank it up to 400.
6- Keep a close eye on it, when it starts to toast and golden up (it will also be puffy), take it out of the oven. About 5 minutes.
7- Let it cool before cutting. This is when they fail really starts. Go ahead and try to cut through marshmallow goo and down into brownie. Did you try? Did you see how terrible it is? Do you comprehend the gigantic mess that you have set yourself up for?
8- Accept the fact that there is no way to cut or display these in a way that can be shared in a social setting. Unwrap the Milanos from the store and dump them into a bowl to take to the neighbors.
9- Save the deliciousness for yourself to pick at with a fork for the next 2 days.

Congratulations! you tried to make brownies to share, and it didn't work!

Call The Midwife

Is anyone else watching Call the Midwife? I watched the first season about 6 months ago and I just noticed that there is a second season and binge watched them last week. Then I decided to make this fun minimalist poster for it! I'm just getting into Illustrator, the possibilities are endless - at least they would be - if I knew what any of the buttons meant.

Drawing Lessons

Since my awesome brother is in town for a few days, I wrangled a drawing lesson from him and he taught me how to draw faces. This was my attempt to draw Anna tonight. She finished the hair on the right side.

Then she asked for a drawing lesson and I talked her through it and she drew this:

She's 5, I'm super impressed that she tried and didn't give up or get frustrated.

Christmas Gingerbread house

Are we getting a little tired of all the updates every time we decorate gingerbread houses? No? Good.

Today Anna talked me out of building one from scratch, which would have been so hard and not worth it at all, we just like the decorating. So we went out and picked up this "Rudolph the red nosed reindeer" themed kit.

Anna's side of the roof.

Terrifying gummy monster came with the kit.

Santa

We made a last second decision to go up to the festival of trees with Beetle yesterday. We did it fast and minimal complaining. I haven't been there in 20 years and it was quite impressive. Anna insisted that we wait in line to see Santa.

Eliza was skeptical.

She didn't say anything EXCEPT "fank you" So, success!

Calvin was a handful during this excursion, too heavy to hold the whole time, to erratic to walk on his own, aunt beetle chased him while the girls did crafts.

Letters to Santa

Anna's letter to Santa.

All the b's and d's are inverted so when she says "I've been good" it looks like "I hav den gob" too adorable not to save.

She asked for coloring books (calring dook) some my little ponies, a play microphone (mikrufon with backward r) and some toy animals (sum anumls)

I LOVE how she sounds out words by herself, she's quite a smarty pants.