2013 A Year in Review

Last year, I posted a year in review a couple of days early. This year, it's better late than never... 

In January, we celebrated some birthdays and Baptism anniversaries with family and friends.

I also continued to take a lot of photos of our little boy.

February saw our little boy crawling and pulling himself to a stand. It also saw us making crafts and cupcakes.

Naps, painting, and Legos kept us busy too.

In March, the children and I watched as our new pope was elected.  Brendan went skim boarding for the first time. We made Easter cookies.

Best of all, we celebrated Easter. It is hard to believe that this year Lent only begins in March.

The children were happy to take care of Mr. B.'s (my husband's college friend and best man) dog in April while Mr. B. and his family went on vacation. The children really miss our dog. The boys got as much playtime as they could in with their friends who are living in Monterey for the year. We can't wait for our friends to move back up here.

In May, we celebrated a birthday and built a new playset.

The recipient of the playset is still terrified of using the baby swing.

June was a busy month. It began with Kieran receiving his first haircut. Popsicles are invaluable when it comes to giving little boys haircuts.

We went to the beach with some friends.

We also went to the park with friends and said "goodbye" to our assistant pastor.

Birthdays were celebrated with family and friends in July. 

Two of our children participated in our local community center's swim team. While they swam, Bernadette helped out at home meets, and I played outside with our youngest. Kieran also started to walk in July.

In August, our four oldest children went to wonderful Catholic camps. My two youngest and I were happy to visit one of my sisters and her family. This sister was my best friend growing up. We share many memories.

In September, we continued with our studies.

We enjoyed our annual parish picnic.

I had my third or fourth ultrasound.

I finally felt well enough in October to invite our new assistant pastor over for dinner. The children enjoyed playing badminton and checkers with him. Our two oldest boys went hiking with the Knights of the Sacred Heart. 

Brendan carved a Celtic knot pumpkin.

November saw our pastor coming over for dinner and playing Stratego with Patrick. We celebrated birthdays with family and friends again. Somehow, I failed to take any photos on Thanksgiving.

I had a 30-week (one day shy of 31 weeks) ultrasound in December which included this 3D picture of our baby. I can't wait to hold him/her in my arms. 

Theresa received the Sacrament of Confirmation. 

We celebrated Christ's birth by going to Midnight Mass which Brendan and Patrick had the privilege of serving. Our two oldest girls sang in the choir. Our youngest son remained awake until the very end of Mass when he finally drifted off to sleep in my arms. Elizabeth was happy to visit Baby Jesus after Mass with her daddy.

My husband's father and brother visited and our assistant pastor came for dinner which was made by my brother-in-law and Catherine.

We are truly blessed to have wonderful priests, family, and friends.

I hope that everyone's 2014 is filled with

love and joy.

Sugar Cookies and Icing

These sugar cookies are more like shortbread cookies. They are not very sweet which means sweet icing complements them perfectly. The almond flavor of the cookies and the sugary sweetness of the icing taste very good together.

Supplies:

• Cookie cutters
• #2 metal tip (we use Wilton, sizes vary between brands)
• Various other metal tips (optional, depending on how you want to decorate your cookies)
• Mixer
• Pastry bags and/or squeeze bottles (I would like these and maybe these.)
• Toothpicks and cornstarch*

Sugar Cookie Recipe

Ingredients:

• 2 cups butter
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 3 tsp. almond extract**
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 5 cups flour, sifted

Directions:

Cream butter. Add powdered sugar. Mix in egg, almond extract, vanilla, and flour. Roll dough into two individual balls and wrap with plastic wrap. Chill dough until stiff (about an hour). Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Roll dough to 1/4" thickness on a well-floured surface. Cut with cookie cutters. Place on greased cookie sheet or cookie sheet lined with parchment paper (I prefer doing the latter). Bake for 8-10 minutes. Cookies should not brown. Decorate when cool. The number of cookies will vary, depending on the size of your cookie cutters.

Royal Icing Recipe

Ingredients:

• 4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
• 2 Tbsp. meringue powder
• 5 Tbsp. water
• Gel food colors

Directions:

Mix all ingredients on low speed until peaks form. If using a stand mixer, use the paddle attachment. This icing is good for piping on the cookies. Store the icing in an airtight container.

We divide the icing into a couple of airtight containers and use the gel food colors to color the icing. We begin by piping the icing on the cookies. Once all the cookies have piping around them, we take some of the icing and thin it in separate containers.*** Place the thinned icing in the squeeze bottles to flood your cookies. Let the cookies dry thoroughly (we leave them overnight), and then decorate as you wish.

*We use toothpicks dipped in cornstarch to move stray piped icing. Clean toothpicks can be used to put a little color in the flooded icing. The toothpicks can be dipped in the gel food color or thinned icing and applied to the flooded icing on the cookie (we did not do that with these cookies).
**Lemon zest, lemon juice, or  lemon extract can be used with equally good results. That being said, my children prefer the taste of the almond cookies.
***Add one teaspoon of water to the icing at a time to thin it. If the icing becomes too thin, add a little powdered sugar.

Enjoy your cookie baking and decorating!

Nordic Ware Cakes

Our eldest received a Nordic Ware Fairytale Cottage Bundt Pan for Christmas and she wasted no time in using it.  First, she made, what we called a "Christmas Cottage" for her youngest brother's birthday.  She used the gingerbread cake recipe that came with the bundt pan, adding a few Betty Crocker Holly Berry Decor sprinkles, and it tasted delicious.

Next, she made a cake for one of her sisters' birthdays.  This time, we called it a "Butterfly Cottage".  She used a Four Egg Cake recipe adapted from the Joy of Cooking, adding a few Holly Berry Decor sprinkles again.  We drizzled a powdered sugar and lemon glaze over it and dusted it with powdered sugar.  It was a deliciously sweet treat.

I am very impressed with the quality of this Nordic Ware bundt pan and the results that my daughter has gotten in using it.  I hope to expand her (or our) personal collection and purchase the Nordic Ware Spring Lamb 3-D Cake Mold before Easter.  We used to buy a lamb cake from the friend of a girl for whom I tutored and serve it for dessert on Easter Sunday.  I want to revive this tradition.