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Happy Valentine’s Day

Connie, Dougie No Comments

It’s been a long time since we’ve celebrated Valentine’s Day around here. It just not something Scott and I were into and with it being so close to my birthday, it was easier just to skip it. This year, Dougie found out about it and has been wishing people “Happy Valentine’s Day” for months. Clearly, we would have to do something in recognition of the day.

So, off to Michael’s we went to buy some craft supplies. We decided that we would make some special cupcakes to celebrate. So, one heart shaped pan, some cake mix and some icing later and we were ready!

While the kids were napping, I made the cupcakes. Once they were up, we pulled the learning tower over to the counter so they could decorate cupcakes for Daddy.

Connie went first (please ignore the big bruise, she had a run in with our slide and the slide won)

First, she iced the cupcake

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Then I gave her a bowl of sprinkles to decorate, they went directly into her mouth

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Good thing she’s cute

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A little demo from Mum and she understood. First get the sprinkles

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Then sprinkle on the cupcake

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A few more sprinkles and the cupcake for Daddy was done

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Just need to make sure it tastes okay

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After that moderate success, I was ready to give it a try with Dougie.

He showed a bit more skill in the icing department

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Until I turned my back for a moment

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I took over the icing from there. Once that was done, it was time for sprinkles.

“Dougie, maybe you could use your hand and sprinkle them on.”

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A little sprinkling lesson for him too and he understood what he had to do.

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Wait wait wait, that is not it!

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Hope you had a wonderful Valentine’s Day!

Christmas Cookies 2010 — Two Junior Chefs Are Better Than One

Connie, Dougie No Comments

Time for a classic Sharabura family tradition… making Christmas cookies! By this time, Dougie is an old pro at making cookies (heck, he has his own apron!), but this was Connie’s first shot at it. We’re happy to report that the cookies were delicious, nothing burned, and we only had a couple of over-sprinkling incidents (see below). First, we make the dough:

Measuring the lemon extract requires a steady hand:
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“How does this thing work anyway?”
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Salt — another tricky ingredient:
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“Making snow” (also called sifting flour for those not used to baking with Dougie)
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“I’m going to eat FIVE cookies!”
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“Man, this is hard work…”
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“Oh, gee, I’m not sure Daddy… let me taste one more!”
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“Umm…. Daddy, I’m not so sure about this stuff…”
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“Wait… you mean I can eat this??”
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“That’s more like it!”
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Then, we put the dough in the fridge for a couple of days (hence the costume changes for those who are paying attention!) Onward to cookie-making!

“I can make just one big cookie, right?”
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Making cookies for the Cutie Pie Ranch
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“I’ve got seven teeth… I can eat all KINDS of cookies!”
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“What, these aren’t toys?”
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“We can TOTALLY fit more sprinkles on here….”
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If it’s Christmas, we need lots of green, right?
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Once the cameras stopped rolling, Dad applied a little bit of sprinkle equalization. The things we do to uphold a family tradition…

Springtime in Vancouver

Connie, Dougie No Comments

We were so excited to be able to get out to Vancouver to visit Scott’s parents. It is a lot easier now that it’s just an hour flight!!

The weather wasn’t ideal, but we found some great inside things to do.

Grandma picked up some gluten-free cookie mix and Dougie, Daddy and Grandma all made cookies one afternoon.

Gathering around getting things going
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Watching the mixer
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Adding more mix
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Almost ready for the next step
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A few rolling instructions from Grandma and Dougie was off
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“Okay, I’ve got this”
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Daddy and Grandma step in to apply a bit of pressure
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Taste testing before we start cutting
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More direction from Grandma on the next steps
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And Dougie can do it almost on his own
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Let’s just be sure it still tastes good
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Sprinkle on some sugar
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Trying some different sprinkles
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Our visit wasn’t only about sprinkles and cookies though. Connie got some good quality time with her grandparents. She’s changed a lot since the last time they saw her so it was fun for everyone to get to know each other again.

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Dougie taught Aunt Judy about Thomas trains.

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We had a great time! We took a lot more pictures but unfortunately, we dropped our camera while we were there and it broke the lens and the remaining pictures didn’t come out at all.

Happy Easter

Connie, Dougie No Comments

There is something special about celebrating Easter in Canada. It feels like more of a holiday since it is a long weekend.

Last year, we did a trail for Dougie. It didn’t go well. It was made of M&Ms and he just moved along the trail eating them rather than collecting them and putting them in his basket. So this year, we decided to go for a real hunt. It didn’t go any better – next year, all the chocolate will be wrapped.

Find the chocolate
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Eat the chocolate
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Find more unwrapped chocolate
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We finally convinced him to pick up some of the wrapped ones – of course, only while his mouth was full
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Oooh, a big one!
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After Daddy gathered up the remaining unwrapped ones – Dougie searched for the rest of the hidden ones
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“Help with the bunny, please? Out the bunny.”
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Though Connie was a bit young for an egg hunt, we opted for different sorts of fun. Daddy gave her a special horsey ride.

Giddy-up Connie
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Whoa! (Look at the disappointment on her face)
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Little Connie Love
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Hope everyone had a wonder Easter!

Building Traditions

Dougie 1 Comment

Those who have known me for a while know that I’m not very big into pranks. I’m sure you can work out from that what my feelings on April Fools day are. Don’t get me wrong, I always look forward to see what sort of prank Google is going to pull. They are always clever and down right funny, unlike most pranks.

But, it isn’t every day that I get called “clever” (thanks Sharold!) so I felt inspired to do something special and perhaps start a little family tradition. Enter, the meatloaf cupcakes.

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Okay, not my best icing job. I left all the icing bags in Dallas and had to improvise. I think it looks cupcake-like though, right?

These are actually gluten-free meatloaf topped with garlic mashed potatoes. They weren’t too bad.

Dougie was excited about the idea of cupcakes for dinner though quickly worked out that it wasn’t cake and suddenly wasn’t so interested.

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He did poke at it a bit and then, something magical happened.

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Our boy ate a kernel of corn. Then, he ate another. All in all, he likely ate about 25 kernels. Obviously, this isn’t enough to sustain him, but we are so thrilled that he voluntarily ate some!! I don’t want to call this a trend yet, but we’re keeping our fingers crossed.