Sunday:

We enjoyed the nice weather (p.s. I do not live here)

And walked down the block to Easter services

Caroline enjoyed her Easter dress

And I enjoyed at least 7 of these scones

Monday:

Well, that's a new way to go down the slide

First swing! She looks underwhelmed.

Rushed the stupid dog to the vet because he ran in the street & got hit by a car. He's so totally fine the vet thought I was imagining things.

Tuesday:

Want to make a 2 year old go somewhere? Tell him there are kitties. KITTY! KIIIIIIIITTYYYYYYY!!!

Someone is excited about the spring weather.

60% off baby! I should have bought the whole box.

Wednesday:

Well, if you're that tired try sleeping later than 5:30. OKAY BABY?

Big boy reading in his big boy bed when I came to get him in the morning

The giant cart came in handy when we found the half price bunny. I put it (and the pink version) in a box for next Easter. AM GENIUS.

It's about time he earned his keep around here. I pay him in cereal.

WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT SLEEPING IN?!?

Thursday:

Well, yes, that's sleeping. Technically.

OK, more sleeping. Except I took this at Stroller Strides so I was NOT sleeping.

Naked baby time while Mama stuffed diapers for the switch to cloth

Friday:

Yes, I watched the royal wedding but only because THE BABY wanted to get up. It's not like I set my alarm or something.

OK, so I set my alarm. But how could I miss THIS?!

New best toddler distraction ever: buckets & water.

Maybe I shouldn't whine so much about the sleeping.

Saturday:

CEREAL. MOOOOOORE!!! MORE CEREAAAAAAAL!!!!

I had a super healthy breakfast omlet so I wouldn't feel bad about the fried seafood at lunch. It worked.

Mystic Seaport. In the words of the toddler: BOAT BOAT BOAT BOAT BOAT!

Days like this I am so happy we live in New England.

And now it’s Saturday afternoon and we’re home with 2 napping babies and plans to visit the hardware store (and hopefully I can talk E into some Chili’s for dinner). If we get REALLY fancy we might go dig up some rocks in the back yard. MY LIFE IS SO GLAMOROUS. And you know what? I totally think it’s awesome.

Did you take any camera phone photos this week? Link up with one or lots using the linky below and grab the code (so it shows on your blog too!) over at Amy’s . It’s really fun!

Even though I spend the majority of my pre-party planning on crafts and decorations, I spend 75% of my money and day-of preparations on food. I love food. Food is the reason I have parties at all.

Here’s an overview:

1. Mini-cupcakes
2. Marshmallow lollipop
3. Cucumber sandwiches
4. Mini quiches
5.Swedish meatballs
6. Mini doughnut cookies
7. Hand-made chocolate truffles made by and shipped from my friend Erin
8. Caprese salad sticks
9. Fruit salad
10. Veggie plate
11. Cheese and cracker plate
12. CAKE

Now here’s the deets:

Leftover cake batter (because I had to TRIPLE the recipe to have enough for the cake but only needed a little bit of that 3rd batch) turned into mini cupcakes in polka dot wrappers topped with peanut M&M’s on a cake stand from BJ’s.

I came up with these on Thursday morning when I found marshmallows on sale at Target. I stuck them on sticks and dipped them in colored melting chocolate and sprinkles. The little stands are Styrofoam balls cut in half and wrapped in tissue paper. They were SO EASY and delicious and popular with the kids.

The cucumber sandwiches were the only thing we ran out of. It’s just Wonder Bread with garden veggie flavored cheese spread and cucumbers, but they are SO DELICIOUS. And I even used the secretly whole wheat white bread to make them a little healthier. The mini quiches are store-bought and my absolute favorite party food in the world. They have been since I was about 12, when I decided eating mini quiches automatically made me look both older and classier.

My mom used her grandma’s recipe to make Swedish meatballs and I used my awesome crafting skills to glue felt circles to colored toothpicks to make them fancy. One of us worked a lot harder than the other.

My friend Kimberly sent me a link to these a couple weeks ago when I mentioned I was looking for round food and I fell in love with them. I actually baked and decorated them last weekend and stuck them in the freezer. They defrosted beautifully and were both adorable and delicious.

This idea came from Amy at Soup or Salad Blog – tomatoes, piece of basil and cheese. I just picked up the little mozzarella balls from the salad bar at the grocery store and made my aunt assemble them for me. The cute little stand was from last year’s birthday party!

Even all my fruit was round, thanks to my mom’s mad melon balling skillz. Cantaloupe. watermelon, red grapes, green grapes, blueberries and black berries. You can also see the corner of my round veggie tray – cucumber, carrots and radishes cut into circles.

I didn’t get a close up of the truffles Erin made, but there were extremely yummy and also adorable – she somehow put colored polka dots into the coating. She did vanilla and strawberry for the kids and then orange liquor and Kahlua for the grown-ups. I ate the leftovers for lunch. And dinner.

And finally, my cake:

It is not as pretty as I had imagined. It also doesn’t have the precise color coordinated stripes of dots I had planned on before I realized the “20-25 minutes” it took to bake this batter as cupcakes was more like 50-60 minutes in large cake pans in my crappy oven. Then I ran out of batter and when I tried to make more I was a cup of sugar short. Luckily, my run to the grocery store didn’t end up ruining anything besides my plans to make the frosting perfectly smooth and delicately place all my jelly beans in exact lines.

You know who cared about the uneven frosting and the random dots? NO ONE. Not a single person, including me, cared that the cake didn’t look like it was from a professional baker.

The main reason is because it was DELICIOUS.

I ended up making it all from scratch, using recipes from I Am Baker for everything. The cake is white cake with buttercream frosting and lemon curd filling (the recipes are in those posts, but you’ll have to scroll for them – which shouldn’t be too much of a hardship because her cakes are GORGEOUS). When I test drove the cake as cupcakes last weekend they were perfect. When I tried to make it as cake it stuck to the pan and came out a little dry, but honestly, it was such an easy recipe I’m sure that was baker-error and I can do better next time. I kept apologizing for the dryness, but I may have been the only person who was bothered by it.

The frosting is like store-bought cake frosting, which I love but no one else does. It is very sweet, but the lemon curd filling tempered the sweetness. The filling was DELICIOUS. I should have cut each cake layer in half and done three layers of filling in each tier, just to get more lemon curd into each slice. I may have put lemon curd on toast for breakfast today. And lunch. And dinner.

2 year olds can blow out their own candles

The number of sweets in my house (all the baked goods combined with all the candy from the decorations) is EPIC. I need to have another party just to get rid of the food from my first party. But I heard from all the guests that despite the sugar overload their kids all slept REALLY well on Saturday night and spent all day Sunday talking about the “balloons!” and “ball pit!” at “Baby Evan’s party!” I call that a success. An extremely delicious success.

p.s. I need to add that NONE of the food would have gotten finished if not for my amazing family’s help. My mom and my dad and my aunt never batted an eyelash when I insisted they cut every slice of cheese into a circle or told them to ONLY use certain colors of jelly beans on the cake. They cut and slices and cooked and arranged so I could focus on my cake. Even E helped with the food when he wasn’t wrangling toddlers and babies. Thank you all SO MUCH for the help!

I didn’t miss Little Evan’s monthday on Saturday, I was just too busy enjoying spending time with him this weekend to bother to sit down and write an update. He’s turning into a little person more and more every single day and it’s an amazing transition to watch. Just this week he found two of my vintage doll house people – the father and the little boy – and he’s been carrying them around making up pretend stories and adventures. They rode on cars and rode on the dog and sat in chairs and ate stuff and talked to each other. I named the father Joe and after Joe told Little Evan to be nice to his mommy Little Evan gave me a kiss. I think maybe next time Joe is going to tell him to pick up his toys, eat his vegetables, and take more naps.

Although really, naps aren’t our problem. Anytime between 11:30 am and 1:30 pm that he starts looking tired he’s more than happy to head upstairs for some shut-eye. A sippy cup of milk and a blankie are his only requests, although if I let him take a book to bed he’ll “read” it before he zonks out. Bedtimes are almost the same, but Daddy does bath and pj’s first. It’s nice to have at least one consistently easy toddler thing – and for it to be such a BIG thing – especially on days when everything else feels like a battle.

Speaking of battles, we’re currently in the middle of one involving food and how it is prepared/served. It all changes daily, which is beyond frustrating. The whole apple he loved yesterday gets thrown across the room today or the yogurt he was eating from the container 30 seconds ago is suddenly not good enough unless it’s in a BOWL. I have to let him choose his own utensils or nothing gets eaten at all. If I put the plate on the desk and he wanted to eat at the counter the meal is ruined. I try to be accommodating because I know he’s just trying to control one of the few things he can in his great big world but food isn’t optional. He HAS to eat. The worst part is I doubt “picky eating” is a phase that ends anytime soon.

Little Evan’s favorite things this month include the dog, the cats, his vintage wooden desk, his alphabet flashcards, sitting on the couch with mama or daddy, coloring with chalk, reaching things he’s not supposed to touch, and getting anyone who comes into the house to pick him up. His least favorite things include leaving anywhere he’s having fun, being told “no”, and sitting in the shopping cart. All those least favorites makes taking him on errands all sorts of challenging, so my evenings and weekends are now busy with those sorts of things.

I’m excited about Little Evan’s upcoming birthday but of course sad that his days of being 1 are numbered. 2 is going to be a whole new adventure!!

23 Month Milestones (from BabyCenter as usual)

Mastered Skills (most kids can do)
• Names simple picture in a book – Yes! He’s very good at this now, especially the books with animals. Maybe exclusively books with animals. I’m not actually sure we own any books that don’t contain animals.
• Uses 50 to 70 words – I never did get around to making a list of words but I would say we’re up to about 60 or 70 on a regular basis. Plus he’ll repeat almost anything and picks up new words on a daily basis.

Emerging Skills (half of kids can do)
• Opens doors – Yes, including our back door which is going to be a problem.
• Sings simple tunes – If by “simple tunes” you mean “the theme song to How I Met Your Mother or Battlestar Galactica”, then yes. In case you think I’m a horrible mother, he can also sing “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes”. And several Ke$ha songs. Maybe I am a horrible mother.
• Takes more of an interest in playing with other kids – He has ALWAYS liked playing with other kids. He’s very good at sharing too, which always makes me a proud mama.

Advanced Skills (a few kids can do)
• Talks about self (likes, dislikes) – No. I’m not sure he even knows what he likes or dislikes. It changes on a minute by minute basis.
• Asks “why?” – Not yet. Can I add “thank god”?

This is half Rachael Ray’s Thai Chicken Pizza and half California Pizza Kitchen Thai Chicken Pizza with a dash of “oh crap I don’t have that in my fridge, what can I use instead?” I never get tired of making or eating it, and it’s the perfect meal to share with a toddler – lots of nice little bite sized things. Just watch out for the peanuts.

Suzanne’s Thai Chicken Pizza

1 store-bought thin crust pizza crust
1 bottle duck or plum sauce
Sprinkle red pepper flakes
2 cups Monterey Jack cheese
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 tablespoons peanut butter (we only ever have crunchy)
A couple of good dashes of Tabasco
A couple of good dashes of grill seasoning (whatever you happen to have in the pantry)
3-4 thin cut chicken breasts
2 tablespoons apricot preserves (honey works too)
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 cup shredded carrots
1 cup mung bean sprouts (they’re next to the tofu at my Stop & Shop)
4-5 scallions
Cilantro
Peanuts

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Put the pizza crust on a rectangular cookie sheet and stretch it so it fits exactly. Pour the bottle of duck/plum sauce over the crust like it’s tomato sauce. Sprinkle with the red pepper flakes and then the cheese. Bake for about 15 minutes, until the cheese is bubbly and starting to brown.

In a medium sized bowl or dish, mix the vegetable oil, peanut butter, Tabasco, and grill seasoning. Toss in the chicken and stir it all around to coat well. Heat up a grill pan (I just use the thing I use for grilled cheese)(I cannot remember what that kind of pan is called) to medium-high heat. Cook the chicken for a couple of minutes on each side. This is the reason I use the thin sliced chicken – it doesn’t take very long and it’s hard to accidentally leave a raw spot in the center. When it’s cooked, slice it up into bit sized pieces.

In another bowl, mix the cider vinegar and apricot preserves. Add the shredded carrots and toss it all together so they absorb some of the liquid.

Now chop up your scallions and cilantro. I love scallions so I tend to use a LOT and I don’t chop them up super small.

Once the pizza is done, top it with the chicken, then the carrots and mung beans, then the scallions, cilantro and peanuts.

The original recipe claims it feeds 4 people but E and I usually eat all but one or two small pieces, especially now that Little Evan can eat a whole piece on his own. A lot of the toppings tend to fall off during the hand-to-mouth transfer so keep a fork handy to shovel them back on. Enjoy!

These are actually meals from the last 2 1/2 weeks, because even though they were all PLANNED for one week there were several nights I was sick/didn’t feel like cooking so we had take-out. And by take-out I mean fast food. But doesn’t “take-out” sound so much nicer? Like maybe it was stir fried veggies over brown rice instead of cheeseburgers and fries.

It’s always cheeseburgers and fries.

All my recipes this week came from Rachael Ray’s Express Lane Meals. Despite not being able to stand RR’s voice on TV for more than 20 seconds and her super annoying habit of calling things like PB&J “American nut spread with fresh fruit preserves on a sliced whole grain loaf”, her recipes really are both fast and easy and written for someone who isn’t very confident in the kitchen. I’ve had and liked this cookbook since college, but hadn’t made any of these before (besides the pizza, which I don’t even use the book for because I’ve made so many changes. Recipe coming on Friday!)

1. Steak, Fried Onions, and Potatoes Salad Bowl with Blue Cheese Vinaigrette (I substituted some homemade rosemary potatoes for the potato sticks in the salad)
2. Inside-out Pizza-dilla Margerita (see what I mean about the fancy names?)
3. Taco Salad – Our easiest favorite meal. Make taco meat as directed on envelope of taco seasoning. Dump over Fritos. Add various taco toppings. Eat too much.

4. Teriyaki Chicken with Warm Ginger-Carrot Slaw
5. Spinach-Artichoke Cheesy Tortellini – That’s not QUITE the recipe from the book but it’s close. I also discovered I still hate tortellini from a Very Traumatic Childhood Experience and if I make this again it will be over ravioli instead.
6. Pasta with Broccoli and Sausage with a Ricotta Surprise
7. Thai Chicken Pizza – Linked to Rachael’s recipe, but mine is WAY better

After seeing the total lack of veggies in my Volume 3 set of recipes, I decided to make more of an effort this week. Since there is at least one veggie in every meal (as long as I can count tomatoes) and toddler ate both the carrot-ginger salad and the spinach from the tortellini I consider it a success. Plus I totally ate the broccoli, even though I HATE broccoli. Turns out broccoli cooked in sausage fat is much better than steamed broccoli. WHO KNEW?