Girl Scouts Birthday & Thin Mint Cupcakes

This past Monday, the 12th, was the 100 birthday of Girl Scouts!

Faith's troop celebrated by trying something new, and they chose to try out golfing. There is a nice little golf course on post, complete with a driving range, putting greens, and a small 3 hole area, besides the real 18 holes, so perfect for the girls.

Faith and I offered to bring the refreshments and since it was a Girl Scout birthday party, we needed cupcakes. What says Girl Scout more than a Thin Mint cupcake?

We opted for a nice light German chocolate cupcake, with a few drops of mint extract into the batter. From there, we decorated with a bit of vanilla icing, green sugar sprinkles, green clover sprinkles, and a half a Thin Mint up top.

Although I have several good recipes for chocolate cake, we ended up being very pressed for time and defaulted to a mix. It helps when your audience is 9 and 10 year old girls and a mix is a perfectly acceptable way to make a cupcake. I also haven't quite gotten the hang of baking in this altitude (we went for Dallas, TX to Colorado Springs, CO, if you haven't been following along for awhile), so I have come to appreciate when a box tells me what to do to not ruin the cupcakes at 6000feet.

Either way, the girls loved golfing and loved the cupcakes, and we ended up with four left over for the four of us to enjoy at home.  The end.

The Rules of Inheritance - Book Review

Author Claire Bidwell Smith is an only child, born to parents who were 40 and 57 at the time of her birth. At age 14, in the span of a few months, Claire learns that both her mother and father have been diagnosed with cancer. In the excerpt, from the inside cover, Claire writes "I've already come to the conclusion that I will probably be parentless by the time I am thirty."

In The Rules of Inheritance, Claire details her journey from the initial cancer diagnosis, through her mother's death while she is in college, then through her father's as well, running through the five stages of grief (denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance).

What I found interesting is that the novel is told in non-sequential excerpts from her life story rather than chronological order from diagnosis to the present. But it's this order, her memories tied to those stages that make her story so touching. It's not a sequence of treatments and events, but her thoughts, reactions, and even how those events shaped her life years after they happened. Despite the sadness of it all, it's a book that is hard to put down.

Have you read the Rules of Inheritance yet? Come join in the discussion over on BlogHer.com!

Our Valentine's Day Goodies!

F&B and I had to come up with something creative for Valentine's Day, so we recycled our favorite Christmas zebra nibbles into Valentine's zebra nibbles and made some cute heart lollipops for their classmates.

I had bought Peppermint Hershey's Kisses after Christmas and tucked them in the freezer for this project, as well as plenty of small candy canes. (And no, it is not crazy to plan Valentine's stuff right after Christmas, that is when all the good candies are on sale).

For the Nibbles, we topped a pretzel with a Hershey's Kiss and melted them slightly in the oven, a couple of minutes at about 350. When they are soft, but still formed, pull them out and press an M&M into the middle, then let them cool and harden.

For the lollipops, we set two candy canes into a heart shape on a wax paper coated cookie sheet, then placed a stick in the center. I melted the Wilton white candy melts, and spooned it carefully into the area, using a baby spoon to move it around, then F&B sprinkled decorations on top.

For their teachers (2 classroom teachers and 5 specials that they both have), we made hot chocolate spoons. We melted Baker's chocolate squares in the microwave and dipped bamboo spoons into the mixture, coating them thickly with the chocolate. We set them on wax paper (again) and stuck marshmallows or peppermint pieces into the chocolate while it was still liquid. When they dried, we stuck them in bags and added a tag to "add to one cup of hot milk for hot chocolate or one cup of coffee for a cafe mocha". I was at the kids' school the next day and they were apparently quite the hit!

Meal Planning Monday (or Tuesday), week of 2/21

I've given up on figuring out what week it is. We've been eating at home and doing a pretty good job, but I'm only partially keeping track. This week, we came off a long weekend at Keystone, so that was Saturday, Sunday, Monday.

For the rest of the week, we are having:

Tuesday - Mardi Gras - Dirty Rice with veggies

Wednesday - Husband's Birthday - he wants sushi, chicken adobo and rice

Thursday - I'm leaning towards a tourtiere which is a French Canadian meat pie. It's a long convoluted story as to why I'm craving it, but I am!

Friday - Spaghetti and ... ? (Meatballs, meat sauce, sausage?)

Saturday - Back to Keystone of course!

Linking up to Menu Plan Monday on OrgJunkie!

BlogHer Life Well Lived: Party Planning

What is your best tip for hosting a gathering, get-together or party that is enjoyable and stress-free for both the host and guests?

So excited to answer this question as I've had so much fun throwing birthday parties for my kids!

My biggest tip is to organize in advance--cook in advance, if you can; decorate in advance, lay everything out the day before, and use a theme to tie everything together and the ideas seem to flow.

For the kids' parties, rather than focusing on ridiculous amounts of food and activities, I much prefer pinpointing what we want to do and scheduling a plan.

Faith's Strawberry Shortcake 6th birthday party was excessively simple on one hand, but it turned out beautifully. We took a page from the book of "kids' parties I had as a kid" and played all sorts of fun party games, decorated cookies, and had cupcakes; all themed to match Faith's favorite book at the time (Meet Strawberry Shortcake).

For her 8th birthday, we did a craft themed party, also at the house, with Perler Bead crafts for the girls. The activity filled up a good bit of party time and we had lots of bowls of "bead-like" snacks on the table (M&Ms, Skittles, etc). We even made cupcake picks from Perler beads to keep the theme going.

What tips do you have for party planning? Join me over at BlogHer to share your favorites and be sure to enter the Life Well Lived Sweepstakes!

The Weird Sisters - Book Review

I've got to admit, I was finally excited about a BlogHer Book Club reading choice again. The last several I've done haven't been my typical style of reads or authors I haven't loved, but The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown is actually something I would have chosen, on my own, even if BlogHer hadn't sent it to me.

In the Weird Sisters, the aptly named Rosalind, Bianca, and Cordelia, daughters of a noted Shakespearean scholar, return to their hometown, ostensibly to take care of their mother, who has been diagnosed with cancer.

Cancer, however, is merely their excuse to return home. Rose, the oldest, is rooted there, using their parents as her excuse not to venture out beyond the academic world they were raised in. Bean, the middle, had fled to New York City, only to return home as a safe haven when success in the city hasn't panned out. Cordy, the youngest, has led the bohemian existence until the stability she'll need during her pregnancy only exists in the comforts of home

It's stated in the text, by the sisters' collective narrator role, "See, we love each other. We just don't happen to like each other very much," and none of the three sisters are prepared to deal with the other two upon their return. It's in reconciling their familial roles, their parents, and even the college-centered town in which they were raised, that they are somewhat able to work on their relationships with each other.

Have you read the Weird Sisters? Would you like to? Have your own weird sisters you need to talk about? (I don't, just one younger brother, so the sister roles in the book were quite interesting to me.) Join me over at BlogHer Book Club to chat about it!

Meal Planning Monday - 2012 Week 6

Well, on the plus side, we've been still meal planning. The bad part? I have no clue where I wrote down weeks 4 and 5

This week:

Sunday - Superbowl - lumpia and dumplings

Monday - Taco stuffed baked potatoes

Tuesday - Citrus chicken stir fry

Wednesday - Beef stew with veggies

Thursday - Breaded pork chops, rice, veggies

Friday - Spaghetti and ... ? (Meatballs, meat sauce, sausage?)

Saturday - Going to Keystone

Not sure on treats and goodies yet, the kids only have school until Wednesday.

Linking up to Menu Plan Monday on OrgJunkie!