Seven Years Old!

IMG_20130106_162051, a photo by fifthlampdown on Flickr.

My sweet little man is Seven years old today.
His birthday wish was a trip to Nickelodeon Universe at the Mall of America complete with rides, a visit to the arcade and ice cream.
He declared it a great birthday.

52 Portraits

I have just been introduced to Che + Fidel, a stunning blog from Australia. Jodi is hosting a 52 week-long portrait project and I am totally on board.
1/52

2012 in review

What do you say about a year that brought a new baby and cancer to our house?
I'm glad for this year, but also so glad it's over.
There was much to be thankful for in this last year, and together time with my fine family is tops on the list for me.

We saw a baseball game, got a lot out of our children's museum membership, spent most of the summer in the water, had fun at the playground, and all the while the big kids and the small grew exponentially.
Cancer is gone, and the Hubby is feeling fine.
So, all in all, there was much more good than bad this year, though I am looking forward to having a much less eventful year in 2013.

Yarn Along

Yarn Along day! I have missed joining in with the great folks out here.

I have been knitting a sweater from Coastal Knits - The Rocky Coast Cardigan. (you can see it there on the cover) the yarn is Peruvia from Berocco, and I am enjoying the knit. Coastal Knits is really fun to read as well. The authors, Hannah Fettig and Alana Dakos write lovely essays about their neighborhoods and favorite places along their coasts.

My daughter and I are reading The Black Stallion for our Mother/Daughter book club. I was a big fan of the movie when I was young, but I haven't seen it for many years. The book is really exciting! Lots of action, the characters are well-formed, the story is interesting. I would totally recommend it.
Happy Yarn Along, and Happy New Year!

What I Made in 2012

Well, here it is December 31st, time for the retrospective of the year.

This post will be dedicated to things that I made in 2012. 

I was feeling a little unproductive, so it's nice to see that I did actually finish something this year. Unfortunately, as I look at this mosaic I also see some things that I did not finish (the granny square afghan), or finished and took out (the blue vest with the lace yoke), or finished and then it broke (the Hello Kitty backpack), or finished and then never learned to use properly (the spinning wheel).
Even with all of those less-than-successful items on the list, the most successful was the sweet Youngest up there in row 2 in the right-most photo. I can safely blame any unproductive time on the hours upon hours of baby-worship that went on this year.
What great things happened to and for you in 2012?

Christmas Cookies

A couple of years ago I was feeling strapped around Christmastime and I started baking assortments of cookies as presents instead of buying gifts. 

This year was a particularly strapping one for our family, what with the new baby and the medical bills and whatnot, and so it was cookie time again. 

I went through my collection of Christmas cookie magazines which I seem to buy every year and chose the ones that looked the most fun to bake. 

I settled on the Martha Stewart holiday cookie guide from 2010, chose 6 things that looked delicious, made 3 of them and ended up with the 5 delectable comestibles below as well as a batch of caramel corn.

Starting from high noon in the photo, I made marshmallows and cut them into graham cracker-quarter-sized pieces and made a s'more-like cookie sandwich with melted chocolate and peanuts. Then I took the remainder of the marshmallows and dipped them in the remainder of the chocolate. Down there at 4:00 there are chocolate peppermint cookies. The recipe calls for dipping the cookie entirely in the chocolate twice to give it a smooth finish. but I just spread melted white chocolate on the top and then dipped them into a bowl of candy cane bits.

At 7:00 in the photo we have glazed lemon cookies from Martha's website. The other flavors were all pretty dark, so I thought that a little citrus would brighten up the mix. I followed the recipe for the first batch, she says to drop globs of dough like a chocolate chip cookie, but the dough was pretty tight and they didn't spread at all.

So I rolled out the dough and cut out circles with a glass. Then I double dipped them in the glaze (which I opted to omit the lemon zest from because I thought the cookie would look nicer with a smooth finish) and let them stand to cool.

I think I would have been better served to put those in the fridge, they took a long time to set up.

The last sweet treat was a cocoa spice cake. It was intended to be bars, but my 9" x 9" pan was occupied at the time I needed it, so I baked a round cake and cut it into wedges. There is a lot of flavor packed into that little wedge, and I think it would be for the best if anyone concerned drank a cup of coffee while sampling that particular treat.

There weren't many left after I packed up the boxes, just a few of each for us to dig into here.

It's always a little scary trusting new recipes for gift-giving, but these all came out quite well.

I hope your Christmas day was full of family and fun, ours was a good one. 

See you soon

Jess

Little Tree

This year we have a wee one on the move, and so we opted to have a table-top tree.
There are no glass or metal ornaments allowed, due to choking and bonking hazards, so we ended up with all handmade ornaments from the past 6 years of swapping.
As the Elder and I were putting up this little tree I had this poem running through my head.
The Singers are singing a setting of this for our Christmas concerts, and it's by far my favorite sing.

little tree
by: e.e. cummings (1894-1962)

ITTLE tree

little silent Christmas tree

you are so little

you are more like a flower

who found you in the green forest

and were you very sorry to come away?

see i will comfort you

because you smell so sweetly

i will kiss your cool bark

and hug you safe and tight

just as your mother would,

only don't be afraid

look the spangles

that sleep all the year in a dark box

dreaming of being taken out and allowed to shine,

the balls the chains red and gold the fluffy threads,

put up your little arms

and i'll give them all to you to hold

every finger shall have its ring

and there won't be a single place dark or unhappy

then when you're quite dressed

you'll stand in the window for everyone to see

and how they'll stare!

oh but you'll be very proud

and my little sister and i will take hands

and looking up at our beautiful tree

we'll dance and sing

"Noel Noel"

"little tree" was originally published in The Dial Vol. LXVIII, No. 1 (Jan. 1920). New York: The Dial Publishing Company, Inc