Steven, Sammy and Amaya had a great break week with one more to go!
Amaya spent a good portion of the week dressed as Queen of the Ice Cream. When we took this picture, she specifically asked me to label the photo.
Sammy’s Master Chef Junior cookbook arrived so, on my lunch break on Monday, we set out together to shop. He wanted to make pineapple upside down cake but we had to order ramekins so, instead, he picked chocolate cupcakes with raspberry curd and homemade frosting.
It was some process! End to end, Sammy and I were baking for 2.5 hours. We made the cupcakes, the raspberry curd, the frosting and the caramel embellishments. Then Sammy put the curd in the cupcakes, frosted them and added the caramel pieces. They were delicious and, according to Jason, well worth the effort.
The recipe called for passion fruit infused frosting. Our grocery store didn’t have passion fruit or passion fruit puree so we got dragon fruit, hoping it would be a good substitute. It wasn’t, but SSA got a pre-dinner treat out of them.
Watching Sammy melt the sugar…
Adding the curd to holes he made in the cupcakes
Making caramel swirls
The finished product!
On Monday night the kids watched an episode of Phineas & Ferb that featured The Klimpaloon – an old timey bathing suit with a big personality – and got their art on. 🙂
We’d been waiting on some (long overdue) lego sets to arrive for Sammy and Amaya so, when they came, Steven could get one of his gifts from Aunt Sara & Co. – a lego cup! He said it was his 2nd favorite gift – preceded only by his police station lego set.
To get the kids out of the house, Penni and SSA went to the zoo on Tuesday. It sounds like it was just warm enough to make it work. They spent almost three hours there. Sammy’s favorite part was seeing the polar bears and arctic foxes. Steven liked the vultures the best. Amaya bought a stuffed sloth (with her own money) and that was her highlight.
Only one option for lunch at the zoo during the winter during a pandemic.
Polar bear out in the distance
We played so many board games this week. It was quiet at work and Gabby wasn’t working so, after 4pm, it was mommy and the kids.
On Tuesday evening played Catan Junior for the first time. I’ve never played Settlers of Catan so it was a good intro for me, too, and we all like the game.
Blokus is still a go-to. I think I’m undefeated so we always have a “kid winner”, too.
Penni lent Steven a cook book so he could also have a private cooking session with me. After running to her place to get the book, they stopped at a playground for an hour. It’s getting colder but the kids would have recess a school every day as long as the real feel is over 0 degrees so they can definitely still play outside.
Sammy: Take a picture to show how high I am.
Early afternoon I took a break for some book time with SSA. (That’s Slothy being held by Amaya – her purchase from the zoo.)
Ticket to Ride – still loving it. Everyone’s building their own strategies and figuring out what works.
Penni was off on Thursday so I worked and called it quits early to play more games with the kids. We also started watchin Floor is Lava on Netflix. The boys loooove it.
Laughing and laughing at Floor is Lava. This one guy, Chiklet, had them rolling.
On Thursday night, SSA asked if we could stay in bed on Friday morning so they could make us breakfast. Um, yes. Yes, please. I told them they couldn’t get started until 8am, though, it case it was cacophonous. It wasn’t! I heard them head down at 8am and work together for an hour before we were treated to heart shaped waffles with blueberries, honey and chocolate. It was wonderful.
We were even serenaded with a “We Love Mommy and Daddy” song.
Early afternoon, Steven and I made his special dessert. It was supposed to be cheesecake stuffed strawberries but we used raspberries instead. Super yummy and only 6 ingredients.
Saturday morning we had a Carcasonne date with Aunt Ouize. Can you see the phone set up at the far end of the table? I was Aunt Ouize’s proxy and she was our winner!
Sally found a new, warm spot to stay close to us while we played.
After a FaceTime date with Grandpa Homey and Grandma Betsy, where the kids learned all about how Grandma Betsy makes soap, we played Catan.
Dinner helpers, for bacon chicken tacos, were Amaya and Sammy. Amaya chopped the green onions and Sammy made the chicken.
The ramekins arrived so today was pineapple upside down cake day! (PUDCD!) Sammy and make a quick stop at the grocery store for some needed ingredients and got cooking. I think this endeavor took about 90 minutes made longer by our need to toss some batter and start over when I realized I read some directions incorrectly. I’m glad we started again because the end result was fantastic!
We tried fresh pineapple but the canned pineapple was easier to work with and tasted better (sweeter and jucier) than the pineapple we had in the house.
Sammy made a mixture of butter and brown sugar for the base (ultimately top) of the cakes and then added heavy cream and rum for a sauce.
Teamwork!
Perfection. <3
In an attempt to get some fresh air after three days indoors and earn time on our “hours outside chart” and give Jason some space to finish up organizing the play room, the kids and I headed to a playground for an hour this afternoon. It was cold. Bearable but cold. For adults, at least. I made it through by walking laps around the playground which, to be honest, really warmed me up.
We had a lot of gear.
The kids don’t have to wear masks at empty playgrounds but feel more comfortable having them “just in case”. It’s hard to find Steven in there!
As I walked laps, the kids followed me and threw snowballs at my back. They loved it lol.
Finally – the playroom! For almost 7 years now it was the one room in the house that I wanted full responsibility to organize but it was truly out of control. So much stuff everywhere that everything was losing value. So I called in the big guns and Jason readily got to work. ❤
Here’s the before:
And after!
Have a great week!