Baby Vivy's One-Year Pics

Back in the middle of March, I had the opportunity to shoot my beautiful granddaughter's one-year pics. She was remarkably cooperative which made for some great moments caught in my lens.

Thought I would share a few.

She is my heart-light! Meme loves you, Baby Vivi! <3

The 'Not-Bummer-Summer' is Upon Us

I love that title...

One of the things on our to-do list (mine and the girls') is to see this movie. It looks like a fun time and Heather Graham is absolutely adorable, imo.

Anyway, as I sat down to write this entry this is the title that popped to mind. Summer is fast approaching. School is almost at year's end. It is time to start planning our 'not-bummer-summer'. If you are a parent then you know the pressure that comes with trying to keep from having utterly bored children under your feet all summer. I mean, sure, there are times when they are absolutely expected to entertain themselves. However, things are not like they were when I was a kid. I can not (in good conscience) tell my kids to beat it and not come back til' dinner! There are too many wackjobs in the world today and things just are not as safe for our kids to just go roam off in search of something to keep them busy.

A couple weeks ago, Girl-14 (soon to be 15) and her bff (going forward, known as Bff-14) took a ride with me to the shore. It was a lovely day for it and I got some great pictures.

Nothing soothes me quite like the ocean breeze and the sound of the waves rolling in. Granted, the beaches near me do not have much in the way of big waves...more like waves lapping the shore than crashing on it. That is ok by me! It sounds just as wonderful.

Like last year, we are planning to revisit the tradition known as 'beach Mondays'. I will likely alternate between Harvey's Beach, which is GREAT for very small children, and Rocky Neck for the bigger kids. Hubz will have to be present for the bigger beach because it is exhausting chasing Lil'Man all day! I swear all I see is the back of that boy's head from the moment we arrive until I manage to get him into the car to go home.

Other activities will include Day trips to The Dinosaur Place, which has a great nature walk full of huge dinosaurs and an awesome splash pad for the kids to cool off. Other destinations on our list include Mystic Aquarium, Lake Compounce or Six Flags, the Essex Steam Train and some local museums such as the West Hartford Science Center. Between these activities and being able to swim in our next-door-neighbor's pool, I think that the kiddos will have little to complain about...though I am sure it will not be for lack of trying!

I, of course, will have my camera in tow and will be posting a ton of pics throughout the summer. Hope you all enjoy your families this summer! Take some time to marvel at the little ones as they explore and grow. They grown up in the blink of an eye.

Have a blessed day!

Bake Pops

 Fun to do with the kiddos

A few weeks back, I ordered a Bake Pop kit online. I went for the buy one/get one deal, which worked out very well monetarily. With shipping and handling the whole total was under $40. Well worth it for something that the girls and I can do together, often, where the possibilities really are endless.

Our first go-round was just...ok. We used the cake mix directions on the box which yielded cake balls that were a touch dry. Upon referring back to the directions that came with the pop pans, we found the trick. They tell you that you can use the directions on the cake mix itself and then add a *note* with ways to make the cake balls better. (read: more moist and dense)

So, we made the next batch following those alternative directions and they came out MUCH better. We added an extra egg, used milk instead of water in half measure, and added a packet of instant pudding mix to match the flavor of the cake. The only mistake we made on the second batch was not using baking spray containing flour. It really does make a huge difference as we noticed on the third batch.

Once all the kinks were worked out, we made about three dozen pops for Hubz to bring to his last clinical day to share with the folks he had been working with and learning from. We made yellow cake balls and dipped half of them in chocolate and sprinkled them with a toffee topping. The other half we dipped the bottom half in peanut butter (melted Reese's chips) and the top half in chocolate then sprinkled them with very finely chopped peanut sprinkles. Hubz said they went over very well! In fact, I have a few emails asking about placing orders.

Overall, I like the consistency of the 'traditional' cake pop (frosting/cake mixture) but the recipe we used with the Bake Pop pans is pretty good too. The fact that they are easier to make with a LOT less mess is a good enough reason for me to use the pans more often than not when making these tasty treats!

I also tried the pans out using brownie mix. I used the directions on the box and they were delicious!  The next recipe we are going to try is peanut butter cookie pops.Yum!