March is birthdays galore

This year for High Honors Jessie did a cooking project.  She needed to make a presentation and recruited family to demonstrate to.  She made us Cranberry Orange Scones and showed us a presentation of all the work she had done and the dishes she had learned how to make.

Cranberry Orange Scones

2 cups flour

3 Tbsp. brown sugar

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 cup butter

1/2 cup craisins

1 tsp. orange peel

1 egg yolk

1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 cup plain yogurt

1/2 tsp. vanilla

Glaze

1 cup powdered sugar

1 Tbsp. orange juice

1/4 tsp. vanilla

In a large mixing bowl combine dry ingredients; cut in butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add craisins and orange peel and toss to coat.

In a small mixing bowl combine wet ingredients; don't over mix. Make a well in dry ingredients and pour in egg mixture. Using a fork, stir until combined (mixture may seem dry).

Pour dough onto a floured surface and knead 12 times. Pat dough into a circle about 3/4 of an inch thick. Cut into wedges. Place on an ungreased baking sheet and bake at 400 for 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown. Cool 10 minutes.

Combine glaze ingredients, stirring in additional orange juice 1 tsp. at a time until desired drizzling consistency is reached. Drizzle over slightly cooled scones. Enjoy and set one aside for me :-)!

After the demonstration Becca curled Jessie’s hair with a curling wand she brought down to share.  Jessie decided it was a little too curly for her tastes.

We had a surprise visit from one of my best friends growing up.  She and her brother and dad had driven out for a wedding and stopped in on their way back home.  It was so FUN to see her. We celebrated Rachel’s birthday too. (Wow, what a busy day!)  She made pizza crust and we had all the toppings.  Man was that tasty!  Everyone made their own little personal pizza.

Lunch is served. 

Then Spencer had to have a picture with Emma in it too. Rachel had a few candle blower helpers and her favorite German Chocolate Cake.

We played a couple rounds of Catch Phrase too. Neil and Dad playing Sleeping Queens. What a cute baby….and don’t you love her little striped tights?  Side note – we got this beautiful blanket when we came home from the hospital.  The nurses said that a sweet grandma makes them and donates them to send home with each of the babies.

A day at our house. Neil is really into wearing Ken’s t-shirts to bed right now.  Neil and Isaac usually eat breakfast at the bar in the morning.  They LOVE hot cereal, especially cream of wheat and malt o meal.  One of their new favorites are the packages of cinnamon roll instant oatmeal.  And some mornings we just have cold cereal – Mini Wheats, Oatmeal Square and Honey Nut Cheerios are pretty high on that list.   Then we play/read until lunch time.  Isaac wanted to help make his sandwich.  And that evening Jessie was making cookies and Isaac found the flour bucket.  Fun, fun, fun. Ken and I went on a date to Ruth’s Chris with some credit union friends.  Emma came to and was enjoyed by everyone.

Neil has been wanting me to cut his hair short enough to spike for some time now, but I just haven’t wanted him to grow up.  He’s so cute with his hair a bit longer.  But I gave in and ta-da….spiky just like he wanted. We had some more bread stick coupons and book-it coupons from the kids reading at school and since Ken was at credit union meetings all weekend we “went out” for lunch. On a Sunday evening while we were getting kids ready for bed Emma found her thumb.  It’s so cute on tiny babies as they figure out how to suck their thumb and not poke themselves in the eye.  Now we can easily tell when she’s tired because in the thumb goes.

Since Ken was gone at work meetings for his birthday Jessie wanted to make a pie for him to eat for breakfast.  So she made a crust and used some apple pie filling a friend had given us and wa-la….deliciousness in our new “pi” plate from Christmas. We went to Brent’s to celebrate Grandma Woodward’s 89th birthday!  So fun to see family and share baby Emma with Grandma.  Grandma asked for some help to blow out her candles and I bet you can guess who was in on helping…our little candle blower.

We also celebrated Ken’s birthday the next day with more pie…apple, pumpkin and gone to heaven chocolate pie.  Family is really what it’s all about and we are so lucky to have family close to share special moments with.  Randy gave Ken a new BYU hat…he got some homemade bread and a couple of dates.  Mark lit the candles for him and of course he had a host of helpers to blow them out.  Happy Birthday Ken! A grandma moment for Emma.