Shiny

It has "mood lighting", this new kitchen range of mine. It looks cool, but I can't quite imagine what it's useful for. I think it's funny.

You know what's not funny? Having the ability to cook things. That's not funny at all. I finally have a range where the pancakes don't run to one side of the griddle all the time, the burners always light and the oven keeps a constant temperature. In fact, the ovens WORK!

You might remember this pitiful hulk of a range from my previous post about its untimely demise...or you might not. I spent far too much energy fretting about how much I liked my black oven and how I wasn't going to be able to get another one. I guess that's the sign of someone who's truly got nothing better to do. Turns out a stainless oven is just fine.

It's shiny, it heats fast, the granite counters on either side look great, despite the installers having to shave an inch off each side to get the new range in. I can make an awful lot of cookies at once in the big oven...at least I could, if I had that many cookie sheets.

I'm looking forward to many tasty years together.

Quick Fix

It doesn't take a genius to see I haven't posted in more than six months now. There are myriad reasons for that. Maybe I'll get to those, but there's a lot to catch up on, so maybe not. Besides, the pictures are fun and life has been not-so-fun, so let's get on with the fun stuff...

Things happened after Halloween last year. For instance, Aunt Karen and her family (Spencer! and Lucas!) came to visit for Thanksgiving. Then I took our traditional Christmas Card photos.

Apparently, this tradition is somewhat fun, even if it involves getting dressed up and then being photographed for half an hour or so.

We got up at some ungodly crazy hour to see a lunar eclipse that went down behind the clouds before the moon began to peak out again.

There were truffles made for teachers...

and cookies made for neighbors.

The day itself didn't disappoint, apparently.

There was a monumental haircut.

Who would have known I would like the short hair so much better? The long hair was awfully pretty...for the 30 seconds after it was brushed, anyway.

There was a momentous trip to the tide pools on a beautiful day in January...

where we got to see our first octopus, scurrying for the water in its native habitat.

Later that month, the braces?

They came off. They're still off. Now if only I could remember to remind him about that darned retainer thingy!

Smunch once again tried out for his baseball league's "club team", the Mavericks.

For the first time, he didn't make it. He's now playing on a travel team called The Blues. He really enjoys it. I'm sure he'd enjoy it more if they had enough boys to actually field a team for tournaments! He's played in a single tournament so far and the team lost every game...just like the Mavericks did last year.

Mam, once again showed her skills in basketball, playing YBL with a team of girls very similar to the one she played with each of the previous two years. They called themselves "The Party Rockers" (Ick!!!) and won every game (or at least the vast majority of them.)

It's impossible to take good pictures of action in a gymnasium, it turns out.

In mid-February, Smunch turned 10. He had a laser tag party and I did my best impression of a laser-tag cake.

Since his party was before his actual birthday, we also indulged in our tradition of Sprinkles cupcakes on his actual birthday.

Later that month, Aunt Karen came for a visit with Spencer! and Lucas! We took the kids to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, where they had a grand ol' time.

Then, in early March, Mam turned 8..with more cupcakes.

And she become a Fuchsia Firework.

She also learned the ins and outs (well, a few of them) of fastpitch softball pitching.

I'm still managing her team, and working on my posture.

Some time after her actual birthday, she had her first sleepover birthday party...with funny hats (oh yeah, it was on March 17th!)

She insisted she wanted to have make-your-own sundaes instead of a fancy cake. So, I was denied another crazy-making cake extravaganza and treated to the easy purchase of ice cream, fudge sauce, caramel sauce, strawberry sauce, whipped cream, sprinkles and, of course, maraschino cherries.

The girls had a blast. Fortunately (for me), only two girls spent the night. They were treated to homemade buttermilk pancakes the next morning.

Meanwhile, Smunch became an Angel.

About time.

Easter came...

and went in a blur of plastic candy-filled eggs, cinnamon rolls and scrambled eggs.

The day after Easter, I took the kids to Uvas Canyon County Park for a two-day camping trip. I was joined by another mom...and her FOUR kids. The creek was fun.

The rain was less fun.

But the waterfalls were lovely if you were up for a hike in the rain.

We left a night early, filled the garage with dripping camping gear and had our spaghetti and s'mores camp dinner right in the living room...complete with "campfire".

There has been, and continues to be much baseball playing.

And much softball playing. Two games a week for each of them this year, with a practice for good measure.

This picture was taken during tryouts for the league's Nova team. It's a summer travel team. She was awesome and did all kinds of things I didn't know she could do, including hitting every ball pitched to her from a pitching machine. I was told later, after Mam didn't make the team, that the team selection strongly favors third graders.(Mam is still in second grade.) More than 20 girls tried out for the team. Only 12 girls made it. I imagine most of them are third graders. Since the tryouts, one of the girls on the Nova team has broken her wrist and Mam has been asked to play with them. She is over the moon. My summer calendar weeps at the prospect of five softball tournaments before the end of June.

And there we are. Mam just made the Nova team earlier this week. There are three more baseball games and two more softball games in the regular season. There are camps and trips planned for the summer...including a weeklong trip just for Mommy...to Wyoming.

And to prove that I really am nuts, here's a nice little photo I took while I was out hiking last weekend...

Please pray for my sanity.

The Good Neighbor

I almost breathed a sigh of relief when the last Friday of school was over. Almost. But see, we have these great new neighbors who moved in right before Thanksgiving.

Before we moved in almost five years ago, we were invited to a block party a week before our move-in date. It was awesome because we'd pretty much met all our new neighbors before we moved in July of 2005. In the winter, our new neighbors didn't really have that perk. And because they're a family we'd met and been friends with when Smunch was in preschool, I felt like I had a vested interest in making sure they felt welcomed.

So, with buy-in from the new residents, I scheduled a holiday brunch and invited everyone on our small street. Of course, that amounts to 12 boys, 7th grade and younger. And one Mam. It seemed slightly dicey, but the weather was decent and the boys mostly played outside when they weren't scarfing the food. All our neighbors came, with the exception of the strange older single guy across the street and one family who'd left on a ski trip. It was a potluck, so minimal work for me. I made a couple big quiches, cut up some fruit and supplied coffee and tea.

It was really nice to see our neighbors. I'd forgotten how little we see of them during the winter months! Our new neighbors got to meet everyone and we all got a chance to reconnect. Several people said they'd be interested in having it become a yearly event. I call that a success.

Of course, I also made mounds of truffles this year...just like the last several years. Somehow, they were distributed in a flash to the teachers, speech therapists, swim instructors and a couple of moms to whom I owe what sanity I have left.I didn't get started on Christmas cookies (despite the cookie exchange earlier in the month) until the kids were out of school and then it was a race to get them completed before Christmas arrived. Fortunately, I got a lot of kid help with decorating sugar cookies and decided to take the easy way out on the gingerbread cookies and decorate them in simple classic form instead of regular over-the-top Stacey form. They were cute. And my delivery duo was very efficient. Thank goodness! Each neighbor got a nice little plate of cookies on Christmas eve.Just in time to wrap the last presents and get a few last minute surprises set for the big day itself...

Cookies!

As mentioned briefly in the previous post, this year, I decided to host a cookie exchange. Well, sorta.

I did decided to host a cookie exchange, with the idea of inviting some of the other kindergarten moms to come while the kids were at school. And then, as the holidays approached, I realized I hadn't done anything about setting up such an exchange and it was getting late. I decided it probably just wasn't going to happen.

And then, one day, my friend Julie called. She has this funny (and rather compelling) way of suggesting that you take something on. Fortunately, she's also good at helping out once she's got you convinced. "Do you like baking cookies?" she said.

Turns out, she'd also been thinking about a cookie exchange, but didn't want to host it. Since I'd already been not-quite-planning to host that exact same thing, it was easy to spur me into action. The guest list got longer. We added a few second grade moms and moms from the other kindergarten classes. It got big...and in the end, I think there was just one person who didn't show up, when we'd been advised to count on just half of our 20 people being there.

And it was fun! There were so many yummy cookies. Everyone made their own, as requested in the invitation and the dining room table quickly became a beautiful array of the yummiest cookies ever.In the kitchen, we'd put together a pretty good spread of coffee, tea, apple cider, mini quiches, holiday breads, munchies and fruit.Websites advertise cookie exchanges as a great way to stock up on different kinds of cookies for all your holiday entertaining needs. Really? Because our cookies were gone within a week...long, long before any more holiday entertaining was done!I wonder if maybe this will become a new tradition of mine too. Could be...

Crafty Holidays

Compared to many mommies I know, I'm hardly a crafty one, but I really went overboard for the holidays in 2008. I always drive myself crazy with projects at the end of the year and this year, was no exception. Instead I went exceptionally overboard. It's a wonder I made it to 2009 with any brains left at all.

It all started with the chocolates...I've made truffles every year for the past few years. They look really impressive, despite being pretty easy and they make great gifts for the teachers. Some cute little boxes from Michaels and a little menu of all the goodies inside, all tied with a festive bow. I don't know if the product really measures up to its appearance. I try not to eat many out of self preservation. But they sure look nice!Then came the cookies. I always make a whole bunch of cookies and have fun letting the kids decorate them with me. This year, I offered to take cookies to the staff appreciation luncheon at Smunch's school, so that put a little more pressure on. Still, I made far fewer cookies than I've made any other year. I just had too much other stuff going on. Just sugar cookies, gingerbread, white chocolate raspberry bars and something my family calls Graham Sensations.

I found a really fantastic gingerbread recipe this year and it got all kinds of raves. Too bad it was such a pain in the rear to deal with! And I didn't like how the cookies held up, despite having lots of flavor and remaining moist and chewy. Still, they were cute when they were all dressed up.I brought this platter of cookies to the luncheon, leaving precious few for my neighbors, who probably expect cookies from us by now.As happy as I was with my little tray of cookies, I felt really bad when the other mom who brought cookies indicated that she thought hers just looked too ugly next to mine. I bet they were just as tasty and she didn't spend her whole evening decorating. In some ways, her cookies were almost certainly the superior product.

Then came the class gift. In a moment of supreme volunteerism, I signed up to be the head room mom for Smunch's classroom. I like it. I feel like I'm "in the know". But it's a lot of work. I won't be doing it next year, I'm pretty sure, but then I've got another opportunity with an incoming kindergartner in Mam. I really like Smunch's teacher, so this isn't the biggest chore I've ever had. I'm just not super at delegating. Anyway, I digress. As room mom, I'm responsible for the class gift for the holidays and at the end of the year. I made things super easy for myself by sending the teacher a questionnaire at the beginning of the year, asking her about all of her favorite things...stores, restaurants, hobbies, etc. So I collected the money and set out to buy her a few gift cards for her favorite places. Naturally, I couldn't let this get by me in an uncrafty sort of way. I got a cute little rosemary bush at OSH, dark chocolates, gift cards to Macy's, Starbucks, iTunes, Target and her favorite Mediterranean restaurant. I added a bow. It turned out like this:It was a blast putting this together and seeing it turn out pretty well, but as you'd imagine, my head was swimming in "Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens..." and I couldn't let that little opportunity pass me by. Seriously. How could I not find a way to put this creation in a brown paper package tied up with string?? Am I the only one who would see this as an imperative?To cap that whole little theme off, it turns out The Sound of Music is actually another one of Smunch's teacher's favorite things...but I didn't know that until after the gift presentation.

Last, but not least, I had this brilliant idea that I could get more moms to volunteer to help out at the annual classroom gingerbread house-making activity if I could make the younger siblings feel welcome. So, I offered to put together a few extra houses for the little kids (including Mam) to decorate. Because, you know, I was already making all the icing for the classroom anyway. What's a few extra houses, right?Turns out, it's really not that hard to make little gingerbread houses when you're not trying to do it with a bunch of first graders. I put together four tidy little extras in no time. But wait...at the last minute the teacher also told me she wanted all the candy I'd solicited from other parents to be sorted into one bag per student. Ack! Good thing it wasn't like the holidays were coming or anything!Fortunately, the big kids had a great time decorating the houses they'd made that morning...and the little kids were thrilled to join in. Even the one little sibling who showed up unannounced had his own house to decorate. It was sugary and messy, but such a success!