Adelaide Vivienne is One!

Adelaide turned 1 on Sunday!  We celebrated with Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Eric, Mommy, Daddy, Matilda and Evelyn.  We filled the dining room with pink balloons and butterfly bunting that I cut for her.  We got a big bouquet of pink carnations, a pink ruffly cake and lots of pink presents.  It was so girly!

I made a butter cake, and dyed the layers shades of pink for an ombre effect.  I decorated with a pink swiss buttercream frosting in ruffles.  It was a tiny cake--barely 6 inches across (but 4 layers) it was perfect for our girly little baby.  But, while we were out, Laddie managed to get up high enough to lick the ruffles off half of the cake!! I was able to turn it around for pictures, but you can imagine how angry I was!  Now, with time, it's become funny.

Adelaide didn't seem to know what to think when we all burst into her room signing "happy birthday" when she woke up, but she did love the decorations!  She ate some cake (not a fan of frosting though) But, mostly, she wanted to play with the plate.

And, she loved opening her presents!  It was a very special birthday.  Beautiful weather, she's nearly walking, she has 8 teeth and says "mama" all day long.  She eats like a champ, sleeps through the night, claps, plays peek-a-boo and adores playing with her sisters.  She is such a happy baby and, she's growing and learning things so quickly.

Loft House Cookies

We made Loft House sugar cookies!  Ours are pink with black and white cow sprinkles because the girls convinced me that everything is better when it is pink with sprinkles.

These are like the super-soft, extremely sweet sugar cookies they sell at the grocery store.  I used a crusting buttercream and let them dry for about 8 hours, then the frosting was firm enough to put the cookies in the cookie jar and they were still very soft cookies.

This is not an original recipe, but I can not find my source.  The majority of "Lofthouse" knockoff recipes I find call for sour cream.  A few call for shortening and butter, but the shortening and oil combo worked best for me.

Loft House Style Sugar Cookies

1 cup shortening (butter flavor if you have it)

1 cup sugar
3/4 cup confectioners (powdered) sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup canola or vegetable oil
2 teaspoons almond extract (vanilla is fine, but I love the way almond extract perks up a sugar cookie)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 1/4 cups all-purpose flour 

Soften the shortening and cream in the sugars.

Scrape the bowl.

Beat in the eggs one at a time.

Beat in the oil and vanilla.

Scrape the bowl.

Beat in baking soda, cream of tartar and salt, mix thoroughly.

Scrape the bowl.

Add flour one cup at a time until well mixed.

Dough will be VERY soft.  Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.  Scoop ping pong ball sized balls of dough onto a cookie sheet, roll into a ball with your hands.  If it's warm or too soft/sticky, refrigerate the balls again before baking.  It is important that the dough be cold before baking or it will spread too fast and you will lose the loft of your cookie.  Leave room on the tray for cookies to spread.  I put 8 on each tray in staggered pairs.

Bake at 325 for 8-14 minutes (took 12-13 for mine) until the edges are just firming up (if they're browning, they're over-done)

Cool and frost generously with your favorite buttercream frosting.

Makes 32 large cookies.

I'll have to remind my sous-chefs about the dress code.

Matilda goes to Madison

Matilda attended her first Badgers game in in the Varsity Club (vs. UTEP) on Saturday.  She wore her cheerleader costume (she calls it a football dress) and had a great time!

 She devoured cookies,

 She got fun one-on-one time with Daddy,

She met a real cheerleader and got to shake her pompons (Matilda was shy,)

She also brought her own camera along!  Here are her photos:

Camp Randall (you can see her reflection in the glass!)

Self portraits:

UW won, and Ed said Matilda was so well behaved he would take her again!

Adelaide Prewalking

Adelaide is almost ready to walk.  She pushes this little cart and the chairs, and the trash can, and the highchair, and really, anything she can find, back and forth across the kitchen most of the day.  She's starting to attempt to span larger gaps between furniture and is building her confidence.  She'll get it any day now--she has powerful motivation: to keep up with her sisters!

Back to School!

We are in our new house, we have internet back, and, now, the kids have gone back to school!

Tuesday, September 11 was Evelyn's first day at the Mother's Day Out WCEP program at Geneva Lutheran.  It is close enough to walk, hosts kids 2-4 years old and she plays and plays and plays.  And! She gets to stay for lunch.  She really enjoyed filling up her little baggies to help pack her lunch today and she comes home good and TIRED!

Matilda is at the Growing Place Preschool at our church and it is a more academically focused program for 3-5 year olds.  We toured the school last month and gave her a chance to meet her teachers.  She is going to learn so much and gain so much independence there this year.  I'm excited to hear all about her new friends and the projects she works on and all the interesting things she will learn.  We couldn't be happier with her program!

Matilda wasn't too interested in the pictures at first--she was mad 

at me for brushing her hair--but she warmed up at the end.  

And she loves wearing her 'Pop Star' shirt.

The girls miss each other while they are at their separate schools, but I think it is good for them to make some new friends on their own and they are obviously having a great time!

Easter 2012

Easter was a lot of fun this year!  It was the first year that Matilda was really understanding well enough to look forward to it.  The Saturday before Easter, our church had a giant Easter egg hunt.  It was awesome that they split the hunt up into age groups so the little kids didn't have to compete with the big kids for all the eggs.  And the kids at our church are so nice, some of the older boys were even helping Matilda and Evelyn fill their baskets at the end.  They each found enough eggs to fill their baskets twice!

Matilda and Evelyn shared their loot with Baby Adelaide

After the egg hunt, we took them to the farm where they got to see lambs and chicks and visited their friends, "Ug" the donkey, Daisy the goat and Petey the Peacock.

We had passed the farm many times in the month leading up to April, so Matilda knew we were going to go there to see the baby animals (just like the year before!) and was very excited.  One day, on the way to school, after talking about seeing the baby animals for Easter, she asked me, "Mommy, what is Easter?"
I told her, "Easter is when we celebrate Jesus coming back to life and saving us so we can get into heaven."
"Oh! That's lucky!" replied Matilda.

Easter morning, there were Easter baskets, of course!

Adelaide's basket: books, bunny rattle, teething toys

Evelyn's basket: chocolate bunny,
 stuffed bunny, apron, puzzle and nail polish

Matilda's basket: the same as Evelyn's

Then, Ed set up an egg hunt outside for the big girls!

It was kind of chilly still, hence the tights and sweaters

The girls checking out their booty.

Early Summer Updates and random pictures

Here are a bunch of completely random pictures and updates from the last few months--just ones I thought were cute or funny.

Evelyn riding the cow at Colonial Restaurant

Ed's "Dinosaur Steak" it was DELICIOUS.  He's really become a grill master.

Picking out her bike

First "ride" on their new bikes

Visiting Petey Peacock at the Fam

"Ug" the Donkey (HER real name is Christophine)

Our new favorite "moderately special occasion" restaurant: Meson Sabika--YUMMY Spanish tapas

Matilda is... SUPER CUTIE!!!!

Plucking my magnolia bare

Getting a "lift" from Daddy

Snacktime with their friend, Hannah

Matilda is now brave enough to sit up in the trees

Is that a celebrity at the outdoor worship service?

Trying out pasta

Delighted with her sink bath

Three eared bunny likes to chew up our garden.
 Laddie and Romper do not approve.