Valentine's Day 2013

This is an incredibly belated post and hopefully I didn't forget too much!

I got awfully excited about Valentine's Day this year. It felt like the first year that Callie was really going to "get it" ! And boy did she ! Some of my favorite memories are of waking up on Valentine's Day, walking to my spot at the table and seeing heart shaped pancakes and a heart shaped box filled with goodies. It seems like such a small thing but it was an amazing feeling. I'm not even sure if my mom knew what those little holiday moments meant to me, but I'm pretty sure she does now! That feeling is what I want for my daughters. To know that I put forth the effort to start their day with something special. Anyway, here is what I did this year.


I had been scouring pinterest for weeks planning events, games, food, etc for Callie until I dumbly realized she would be at school that day. So that left food for the most part. When she woke up I wished her an enthusiastic valentine's day (even though the night before had been pretty gnarly with multiple wake ups by both girls). Her smile was worth it:) Before she got up I had cut strawberries into heart shapes (not terribly hard given their original shape, and even easier with a fondant cutter) and made pancakes into hearts as well. I use this pancake mold from norpro. Word to the wise, even though it says it is nonstick, spray that sucker with pam anyway. This whole pancake is kind of a big deal for me. I can cook a great many things, even some pretty complicated things but pancakes had always foiled me. In fact, I pretty much avoided making them until Callie came along loving the damn things. So I have gotten a lot better! So, thanks kid! Plus, I have learned that Lucia freaking loves pancakes too! So I'm doomed to a life of saturday mornings glued to the griddle. There are worse things right?

I also made Callie a strawberry smoothie. Very easy, a pint of strawberries, a cup of yogurt (I used greek nonfat), 1 tablespoon of honey and half a banana. It did turn out a bit thick so I might add some juice next time. I put it in a special valentine's cup I found at safeway of all places.

Then it was time to take Callie to school, but first I attempted to get a picture of the girls together. It proved quite difficult as Lucia has been under the weather and wanted mama. Getting her to sit or stand next to Callie was definitely a challenge!
Then Callie was off to school with her valentine goodies. The teachers had requested healthy snacks or small toys like stickers or pencils, that sort of thing. We opted for popcorn, stickers and bubbles. They assembled everyone's goodies into special bags with the names on it with hearts.
I spent the rest of the day prepping for our dinner. I also picked up Callie early from school and we went for a nice hike at Rancho.

The plan for dinner was tomato bread soup with heart shaped grilled cheese. My heart shaped cookie cutter got quite a workout!

And some bubbly for mama:) 

I also experimented (successfully) with an eggless mousse. I wanted eggless so that Lucia could have some too.  Although she ended up filling up on grilled cheese so I guess I could have done a more traditional mousse, but oh well!
But it came out beautifully! Here is my recipe


Strawberry Mascarpone Ricotta Mousse
1 cup whipping cream
8 ounces mascarpone
16 oz ricotta cheese
1 pint strawberries
zest of 1 meyer lemon
Whip your cream in your mixer until stiff peaks form. Put aside in another bowl. Mix ricotta, mascarpone, 1/2 cup sugar and lemon zest. Throw your strawberries in your blender and make a puree. Add to ricotta mixture. Then fold in your whipped cream. Put in your serving dish of choice. I used some martini glasses for us. Refrigerate for several hours.

See? Easy! And so good. It was like strawberry cheesecake in a bowl!

I topped them with puff pastry hearts. Again, easy. Thaw some frozen puff pastry dough for an hour. Get out that heart cookie cutter again! Callie loved helping with this one. A friend sent me this recipe and thank god she did, because I was planning on something much more complicated! Actually my original idea was to put the strawberry mousse in between the layers of puff pastry  hearts but the mousse recipe made so much it seemed silly! In retrospect, I might just do a bunch of hearts and put the mousse in there.

I also printed out some pdf pages for Callie to color while I got everything ready. This one with elephants and the eiffel tower was fun but of course, Dora won the big prize with Callie:)

Lucia's Rainbow Party

My big birthday girl

We just finished up Lucia's birthday party last week. I still can't believe she is a year old! But that's another story.

Callie getting a squeeze in!

I decided to do a rainbow/st. patrick's day theme since her birthday was so close to St. Patrick's Day. We held the party the day before St. Paddys. I scoured that oh so dangerous place, pinterest, for months for ideas.

First, the food! I found a ton of ideas online for sugary treats but I wanted at least a few healthier options. About an hour into the party we also had tacos from our favorite taqueria. They went fast of course!

We had popcorn in a black kettle for our pot of gold

And a rainbow of fruit with fruit dip (marshmallow cream and cream cheese)
This tray got demolished multiple times by the kids so I'm glad I took a picture before the party really started! We also did a tray of veggies with colorful bell peppers, tomatoes, celery and carrots. 

Also had a rainbow plate that I found on sale at Pier 1 where I put a collection of dried fruit (lots of nice colors!). I found a rainbow of licorice from Sprouts, and jelly beans from Costco. We had pita chips and hummus. And of course a rainbow feather boa for decor!

I found some solid colored melamine bowls at Costco that were perfect! 

Then of course there were the cupcakes!

Callie trying so hard to be good! 

I'm ready mama! Cupcake me!

Callie showing us how big girls eat cupcakes: just eat the frosting! 

The top of the cupcake was covered in gorgeous glitter! They were amazing!  Seriously, if you need cakes, cupcakes or donuts check out Kathleen DeManti's  FB page. She did our wedding cake too! She creates the most beautiful goodies!!




The Outfits:)
I found Lucia's tutu and onesie on etsy in a shop called Chic Somethings. The tutu was nice and full. The onesie came with another tutu that we bought for the invitation picture from a shop called TickleMyTutu. She makes incredible tutu sets. But be warned, if you are going to order from her make sure you have lots of time! Her lead time was 4 weeks but I would definitely order from her again. Great stuff.

Lucia gets a little help from the Grandmas to model her new outfit!

Callie's sparkle rainbow shirt is from an etsy shop called Spunky Sparkles. It was $20 and Callie was SOO excited about it! Her St. Patrick's skirt was $12.

Decorations

I found a lot of rainbow decorations on Oriental Trading Company's website as well as at Party City. The great thing about doing it close to St. Patrick's Day is that not everything had to be rainbow. I found some inflatable balls and other decorations. I used black kettles with gold candies for centerpieces. The rainbow floral garland was one of my favorite pieces. 

We also did a lot of balloons! A cool trick I found on pinterest was to tie the strings around a golf tee and stick them in the ground. It looked very cool! 

For the tables we did a bunch of solid tablecloths with beads, mini hats and gold chocolate coins. The mini hats were a little bit of a let down, they were adult sized not kids sized, but I just tied a loop in it and they fit ok. 

Activities

We had lots of active possibilities for all of the toddlers at the party, so we had our slide

And of course the trampoline was a hit as always...

 a rainbow tunnel, 

a craft table and a pinata. 

The pinata was ridiculously huge. Thank god we had a bigger kid come to the party or it would've taken all day for the 3 year olds to pop it open! I filled it with bouncy balls, beads and other toys.

After what seemed an eternity, it was open! 

We also had a parachute, 

multi colored cones from Melissa and Doug (which were ridiculously popular! Who knew?) and twister. 

No one really played twister, but it sure looked good! Maybe next year:) 

Keeping lots of outdoor bikes and toys was helpful to keep all the kids entertained

For our craft the kids made rainbow crowns. 

Big sister Callie and her friend took it very seriously! 

They had a blast! Before the party we cut out the center of plain white paper plates. The kids used small glue sticks and attached tissue paper to the crown. 

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They were so colorful and some kids made more than one! 

Callie showing off her crown. Excuse the blood coming out of her nose, but that's Callie! Smacked her face into the bar on the trampoline!

I kept some fun items for the kids to play with like this hat and glasses. Found them in the dollar bin at Target. 

There were other things I had planned to do but they just didn't happen. I bought a white tablecloth and I was going to have the kids do potato stamping. Also planned to set up a photo background with St. patricks and/or rainbow fabric. But all in all, it was a huge success! The kids all had fun and so did the mamas and papas! 

Last but certainly not least...The Treat Bags

I had a blast ordering goodies from Oriental and Party City for the bags. There were clappers, rainbow sunglasses, head boppers, St. Patrick's activity/crayon packs, beaded necklaces with shamrocks (these also made great pinata filler). I put everything into tie dye bags. And what's more amazing? I actually remembered to pass them out this time!! Unfortunately I did not remember to take a picture of them, but they were super cute! 

So there you have it. Our rainbow party in its entirety! 

Grandpa Bunt

Last week we said goodbye to Bill's grandfather, Ray Bunt. He was an absolute one of a kind. I wanted to try to put into words what he meant to me. I am not the type of person that can get up and speak at a funeral, especially while I will be trying to keep two kids under 3 relatively quiet!

Love and hugs were Grandpa's specialty!

Grandma and Grandpa Bunt (Ray and Ann) were the first members of Bill's family that I ever met. His parents lived (and still do) in southern california so I didn't meet them until several months later. I, of course, was a nervous wreck. But I didn't need to be. They were the most open, loving and genuine people I have ever met. It was St. Patrick's Day and poor Bill, who was a vegetarian at the time, ended up cutting the corned beef! There were endless offers of beer (that means Budweiser), wine and of course, Coffee Keokis. It was a lovely evening and I felt at ease. I felt like I belonged. There was no judgement. There were no feelings like I was being sized up. There was just fun and great food.

Then came my first Christmas at the Bunts. Christmas is an EVENT at the Bunt house. They had a big ranch style house that was jam packed with people. Family, friends, doctors, dentists, former co-workers, neighbors, and every type of person in between. To say I was overwhelmed would be a great understatement. I will never forget how Grandpa Bunt introduced me. He said "Everybody! Hey everybody! Listen up! This is Maria, Bill's ladyfriend. Maria, this is...this is..well, everybody!" Every christmas the train would be set up and he would dress up as Santa Claus for the kids. And for the adults too, I learned. All the ladies would get a turn on Santa's lap. It was not something I wanted to do, I think it was my second Bunt Christmas and I was still getting my bearings and getting to know the family. When it was my turn, I decided Bill was going to squirm too so I told Santa what I wanted. An engagement ring. Mission accomplished. Grandpa and several family members talked about that for years! It was even brought up at our wedding:) Grandpa Bunt got so much joy out of Christmas. I don't think I will ever not connect the ideas of that holiday with anyone else.
He loved having people over to his house; not just for holidays, but anytime. He was so proud of his home and his family. His family was everything to him. It was from him  that I learned just how important it is. And more importantly that family isn't necessarily just the people you are related to. Because sometimes those people are absent for whatever reason and family is what you make it. My family has always been welcome to mix with his and that is a great gift.

 Ray was the life of the party. He loved talking to anyone and everyone. He just really enjoyed hearing other people's experiences and trying to make sense of them. One of my all time favorite pictures from our wedding was a picture of him filling up one of my bridesmaid's champagne glass. It is Ray to a t. He always made sure people were having a good time; that they had enough to drink and eat. You weren't about to have a bad time if he was around anyway!

Now that is a family photo!

Being a history buff,  I loved all his stories about the Great Depression and his experiences in World War II. I mean who couldn't love a guy that had met Eleanor Roosevelt on his submarine in his boxer shorts because the captain wasn't going to let them take shoreleave? He was a member of the crew of the USS Sailfish.

That's him with the turtle shell

Seriously, look them up. They were involved with some crazy stuff during the war. He was proud of so many things, being a life guard, being in the war, working for John Hancock Insurance back east, his role in helping labor movements, helping political campaigns...the list goes on and on.
But if I was to choose one thing that he was most proud of, it was Ann.

His wife.

They knew each other so briefly before they got married, only a few months. But you would never know it. If there was ever a couple that was made for each other from the get go, it was these two. Ray was always the one with the crazy stories, Ann would reign him in and correct his numbers or places or times but always with a smile. They had the most amazing love, one that we can all aspire to. When we were going through Grandpa's things I found some letters that he had written to her in the weeks leading up to their wedding.

They were so sweet and so Ray. It was clear, even then how proud he was to be with her.

I will miss Grandpa pulling out the old photos and sharing stories, asking me about my work as a teacher, trying to figure out why I didn't make more money,  giving big hugs and kisses to my girls. I feel so blessed that I was a part of his family and continue to be. He opened his arms and his family to me and for that I can never repay him except to make sure that one day I do the same for someone who loves my daughters.

Rest Ray. Your family is strong, loved and we are together because of you. Thank you Grandpa. Please give Grandma a great, big kiss for me and the girls.

"We're women, honey, the strength finds us"

"Where do you find the strength? We're women, honey, the strength finds us."
Wise words come from strange places sometimes. This one was from an episode of what I'm sure Bill would call a ridiculously overdramatic hospital soap, Private Practice. And he probably wouldn't be wrong, but nonetheless when I heard the quote in the episode, I leapt over a pile of toys and stuffed animals (being careful to avoid the deadly legos) to write it down in my phone. It was one of those quotes that you hear and you go "Gawd! Amazing. So true."
I'm not saying men aren't strong, but the female brand of strength is different. Maybe because we take it for granted. A text conversation that I had recently had sprung to mind. We have been dealing with a chronic ear infection with Lucia on and off for the past two months. We have tried 4 different antibiotics, including injections when both ears became infected and she started vomitting. Yesterday she stopped eating after having a good couple of days, so I had assumed she was on the mend. But when she stopped eating and napping we headed back to the doctor who gave us one last antibiotic to try and a list of Ear, Nose and Throat Doctors because we can't keep pumping her full of different antibiotics. I was still hopeful but worried as well. That night, the strongest woman I know, said "I can't imagine what you're going through." I was taken aback because I realized I hadn't even thought about it. And that's what we do, as women and especially as mothers. Is it biological, the way we just react?  We do what needs to be done without thinking about it rationally. We get up 4 times a night (or more!) to feed and soothe. We nurse. We bleed. We birth. We get covered in all sorts of bodily fluids that in no way belong to us. We forgo showers. We are way too good at sweeping our fingers down our kids' throats to get whatever strange item they have decided to injest. We jump when they cry. We sacrafice without thinking about it. I thought about the night we took callie to the ER. In that moment I would have done anything to keep her from bleeding. To keep her from fear. And maybe that's where the real strength is. To adapt when everything goes sideways. So I think that quote is true. When the situation arises, the strength does indeed find us even if we never even considered it before.