An April Fool's Dinner - Ha!

As always, I had SO MUCH FUN with April Fool's Day this year. I was sick as a dog, but I still spent all day in the kitchen just for a 2 minute reaction or two ;)

On this year's menu - Cake for dinner, followed by grilled cheese for dessert.

The cake was a meatloaf that I cooked in two cake pans and stacked on top of eachother frosted with beet infused mashed potatoes. I love the way beets make mashed potatoes the perfect shade of pink!

The grilled cheese dessert was easy and looked perfect! It was sliced pound cake with orange buttercream frosting in the middle. Threw one piece of the pound cake in a pan with some butter to give it a toasted appearance and to melt the icing just a touch and that's it!

Now for the fun part...
I told E that morning (because S is too young and M already knew something was coming) that I was tired of cooking and that we were going to have cake for dinner. She, of course, was thrilled. She and I baked a pound cake together (the one that I used for the grilled cheese) so she was 100% sold that we were having it for dinner. As she was playing, I made the frosting and let her taste it. She was so excited for dinner...

Throughout the day, I prepared the meatloaf cake. I think she was so excited to have cake for dinner that night that it didn't even occur to her that I was cooking other stuff.

Once dinner time came around, she was so excited. She sat down at the table and re-iterated how I am the best mommy in the world. I was getting nervous at this point that it was no longer funny, but maybe cruel ;) The pictures will tell the rest of the story!


Beet infused mashed potatoes


Meatloaf 'cake' with beet infused mashed potato 'frosting'


Eva's reaction to the taste of the 'cake' Her smile dropped in a matter of seconds and she said 'something isn't right', 'this isn't the same frosting that I had earlier', 'this cake tastes like chicken!' Instant disgust!


Inside view of the 'cake'


I explained April Fool's Day to E and she thought it was funny, for the most part. I also reassured her that she would get cake for dessert. I reminded her that she and I had made cake so she was sure to get some! She was a little cranky (she hadn't been feeling well either) and was pretty whiny. Todd sent her up to her room for a few minutes to calm down so during that time I prepared the 'grilled cheese.'

'Grilled cheese' dessert


When E came back down, I told her that we had decided that since she really didn't eat her meatloaf cake that she would have to have grilled cheese before she would get any cake. She was so adamant about not eating the grilled cheese, it was hilarious. We heard everything about how it wasn't good, how she doesn't like grilled cheese, how the bread was yucky, how the cheese looked gross. Obviously she hadn't even given it a chance. Here is her reaction to the sight of the 'grilled cheese' dessert:


So I told her that I wanted to SEE her taste it. Here's her reaction to the taste of the 'grilled cheese' dessert:


She finally concluded with, 'oh, I get it, April Fool's!'

The best part was fooling M. He thought he was going to be too cool for April Fool's Day this year and informed me in the morning that he knew what day it was and asked what I was making for dinner. Since he had swim practice during dinner time, he asked if I could save him 2 pieces of 'cake.' When he got home from practice, I gave him a nice hot 'grilled cheese' instead of the meatloaf cake. Meatloaf is his favorite so he was not happy. I told him that I accidentally underestimated how much meatloaf to make and didn't realize that it would be gone by the time he got home. He was so angry. He took a bite of the 'grilled cheese' and laughed, then he got his 'cake.' :) I wasn't sure that I was going to be able to fool him, but I am glad that I did! Next year is going to be even tougher, I just know it!

St. Patrick's Day

As I may have mentioned in 100 other posts, it is always a challenge to get a good picture of Eva smiling + looking at the camera! I don't try to tell her to hold still, to look, or to smile anymore...but I do have a few new tricks up my sleeve!

This first 3 pictures were taken out in our yard. We went out there looking for leprechauns and 4 leaf clovers - again. As you can see, she was decked out from head to toe in green!





and we found one...



The leprechaun...I had fun with this little guy. Grandma O. and I picked him up from the party store and brought him home one day. I took him into the yard and took a few quick photos of him while E was kept busy in the house. I carefully put him away and ran frantically into the room where E was and told her that I had just seen a leprechaun in the yard and that I took my camera out there, but he was way too fast to photograph. I showed her a picture of our yard in the back of my camera with no leprechaun in it to prove that that's what I was doing, of course. So she grabbed her shoes and headed out there with me. Well, we had been playing with the thought of leprechauns for awhile now and she and I had been seeing them for weeks now. This time was so funny and magical. I told her that I saw him up in her play structure and that she should go up the ladder to scare him down. Well she did, and I made a lot of noise around how she was doing it and how I saw him etc. When she looked in the back of the camera and saw him (the photo I shot from before, when she wasn't out there with me) her eyes got huge and she was so excited! So we did it a few more times and looked through all the pictures.




Where there are leprechauns, there is gold, so we decided to build a trap to catch one! The first photo shows the luring sign that reads "no leprechauns." Everyone knows that leprechauns are rule breakers, so that is extremely enticing!



Once the leprechaun is lured to the trap via the sign, he should notice the stack of gold coins (which were really chocolate coins, but only E and I know that) and the rainbow. There's no way for a leprechaun to resist the gold and the rainbow, so up he will go. Now, what he doesn't know at this point is that the gold is sitting on a trap door. So once he climbs up to get the gold, his weight will activate the trap and he will fall into the box. The rocks that you see are used as stepping stones - kind of like a climbing wall. We tried to keep it fun for the leprechaun too ;)



Full view of the trap to give you a better idea. The best part about the trap was thinking about what we should do with the leprechaun if we caught one. E had so many ideas from making a bed for him in the basement to putting him in the oven (too much Hansel and Gretel - whoops). But my favorite idea was doodleberry cake. E explained to me that leprechauns love doodleberry cake and that we should make some for him and put it in the trap. I'll have to double check the recipe later and post it ;)



At some point in the day, we caught our leprechaun. We still aren't sure exactly when it happened, but our best guess is sometime while I was cooking our corned beef and cabbage. After some research, I found out that there are two things you can do with a trapped leprechaun. You can either let him go and he will run away from you OR you can open your trap and look at him, but he will immediately turn into a pot of gold. I guess you know which one E chose!




We had so much fun this year. We built it up for weeks before and talked about it for days after. E has such a wild 3 year old imagination, she is so fun with imaginative games!

The girlies

Because I haven't posted any photos in awhile of the growing babies...I'll have to try to wrangle Mickey so I can take one of him too!

Eva convinced me that she wanted me to take her picture. She promised to smile AND look at me...1 out of 2 isn't too bad, I guess. I'll take what I can get with her!


The infamous Stelly face. Now you know why we call her 'lips Olson!' Currently she loves to point to her body parts when prompted. When you ask her to show you her lips, this is what you get:


Note the drool dripping down her chin. She goes all out when it comes to sticking those babies out!

Fat Tuesday!

We had a great Fat Tuesday today. Eva started the day by running into our room at 6:30 or so announcing that it was Fat Tuesday and that we should eat King Cake!

On the menu was Boudin Blanc - an excellent Cajun sausage stuffed with pork, rice, spices and pepper. It is considered a fast food in LA because it has everything stuffed in one sausage. It originated in frugality since rice is cheaper than meat, it was meant to help fill the casing. Yum!

Red beans and rice - a little spicy, but everyone seemed to enjoy it!

Stella had 2 platefuls of our Fat Tuesday dinner, and both Eva and Mickey finished it all without complaining too. I'll have to see if Whole Foods carries Boudin Blanc year round or not because it was a fast, tasty meal!

Lastly, of course, we had our King Cake, which takes it's name for the biblical 3 kings. It is a ring of twisted brioche like bread topped with icing and purple, green and gold sugar. Ours was filled with cream cheese! Now, King Cakes usually have a baby either inside or on top of the cake...ours was on top, so I cut the pieces and we drew numbers to see who got the baby. Eva won! She should have good luck now and somehow has to provide us with next years King Cake, but I think next year I am going to try to bake it myself! I guess she can help me!

Everyone in our house knows that on holidays, I am going to bring some trivia to the table. I think it's good so the kids have a clue why we celebrate holidays and events! Some questions from this years trivia:

What does Mardi Gras mean?
Literally, fat Tuesday

Why is fat Tuesday celebrated?
It is the day before Ash Wednesday, where traditionally Catholics would fast for the next 40 days, so fat Tuesday was a day of overindulgence before the fast.

What are the colors of Mardi Gras and what do they mean?
Purple represents justice; green - faith, and gold - power

What is Mardi Gras known as in the Christian calendar?
Shrove Tuesday (pancake day)

Happy Fat Tuesday!

Eva's fancy Valentine's tea party

We had a lot of fun at our fancy Valentine's tea party. Hannah, Lula, Grace, Elizabeth, Georgia and of course Eva and Stella were there.


We decorated our old candle tree stand with fancy boas, beautiful red and pink jewels and red necklaces for Eva's friends.


On the left: heart shaped open faced sandwiches made with wheat bread, strawberry cream cheese, and sliced strawberries.
In the middle: our fancy table.
On the right: Sun dried tomato rollups with corned beef, cream cheese, and lettuce.


Eva is working hard here in the kitchen making red clay for her friends Valentines. Once we made the clay, we rolled it out and used a heart shaped cookie cutter to shape them!


These fancy glitter hearts were the tags Eva made to put on her Valentine's goodie bags for her friends (which contained the clay hearts) - Very sparkly!


On the left: Gerber daisy centerpiece
In the middle: Heart shaped tea bags - a must for a Valentine's day tea party!
On the right: Pipe cleaners for our craft, but also a wonderful table decoration!


My happy girls at the party...and in the middle, it should have been a photo of Mickey, but he disappeared as soon as all of the little fancy girls showed up! Instead, the hearts are the wonderful clay Valentine's made by Eva!


Stelly...she's so cute!


Eva thought it would be a good idea to line up her high heels just in case her friends forgot theirs! Again, very important for a fancy tea party!


The party scene...


Ring shot - this made me laugh...I guess I just love doing these at weddings, so it seemed like a good thing to do here too!

An Interpretation: by Eva

This morning, Todd called Mickey downstairs and told him to get started on his math homework and that he needs to get all caught up by the end of the weekend. Eva looked up at Todd and told him that he is mean sometimes. So, Todd asked her why she thought that? He explained that sometimes Daddy needs to encourage Mickey so he can reach his full potential. I overheard this from the kitchen and was thinking, I wonder what Eva took out from that sentence - 'encouraging Mickey to reach his full potential.' So I poked my head out and asked her what she thought Daddy meant by it. She said, 'it means God loves Mickey.' Hehe.

Watch out for that Vixen!

Mickey asked us if he could ask a girl out on a date this week. We had a big discussion and Mickey revealed that this girl has been out on dates before. So Todd says something about how she already has experience and may be a vixen. So vixen catches Mickey's attention and he immediately asks what it means. We usually tell him to look things up, which is what Todd ended up saying. Mickey got quiet and about a minute later said, wait, you mean a reindeer? My poor, sweet, innocent boy :)

That was...

We went out for lunch the other day and when we were driving home, Todd took a corner just a little faster than usual. From the back seat, we heard Eva's little voice exclaim "Oh, Daddy, that was..." She paused for a few seconds and finally came up with - "Special!"

Snow Day!

This was our first and probably only snow of the year! School was canceled and we had some fun! All 3 kids loved it. Mickey went snowboarding, Eva ate every bit of snow that she could and Stella learned the word 'cold' after taking off her mittens to touch the snow!

Play with your what?!

So, I hear Eva laughing hysterically up in her room and telling Todd that he is so silly. The conversation goes something like this...

E: Daddy, you are so silly
T: Why?
E: Yesterday, you told me to play with my butt!
T: (offended) What?
E: Yesterday, when I was leaving for soccer practice, you told me to play with my butt!
T: (embarrassed) No! That's not what I said at all...I said, go kick some butt!

Now it makes sense...we were leaving for practice and Todd told Eva to kick some butt. She gave him the strangest look and I told him that I didn't think it was the wisest thing to tell a 3yr old. Eva and I chatted about it some in the car, because of course, I didn't want her to take it literally! She seemed to understand, but after today's conversation...I'm not sure she quite got it ;)