Everybody Dance Now!

We are so excited to see everyone in June for dance recital weekend!  Kennedy is really excited for everyone to see the hard work she has put in on her hip-hop and jazz routines.  Isabella not only practices her moves at dance, but also on the Wii.  This video is from her Aunt Heidi's house and I just wanted ya'll to see how much improved her moves have gotten.  We've come a long way from Beyonce, baby!

Popcorn Perfection!

We have it!  The perfect recipe for move night!  Debbie has been on a mission for us and one of her friends brought the final and very important ingredient for our popcorn perfection:

We do NOT count calories on movie night or think about arterial blockages we might be developing from eating our perfectly popped and seasoned kernels.  It is too Y-U-M-M-Y to worry about all that!  Check out this perfect buttery glow:

Easter Weekend

We were with the girls Easter weekend and it was a busy one.  Kennedy and I went to Shane's Gramma Bruce's to learn to make cinnamon buns for Easter brunch at Don & Debbie's house.  I learned alot of great tips (and got to use my new mixer - yay!) and Kennedy got to spend some special time with her great-gramma, who I also enjoy.  She is a special lady. 

We made homemade pie crust for her pumpkin pies

Kennedy got to roll out dough for her pan of cinnamon buns - she wasn't too excited when she saw the size of this rolling pin :)  But apparently this rolling pin has been around for a LONG while and is a special part of kids cooking with their Gramma Bruce.  I thought it was adorable!

Her finished pan of cinnamon goodness (they were so delicious, this pan got eaten before Easter brunch!)

So who knew this cookbook was so amazing? I remember Mom using this cookbook seemingly for everything. 

I bought myself the newer version of this book when I got out of college thinking it must be "T-H-E" book to have.  Shane's Gramma Bruce used her (older) version of Mom's BHG cookbook to make cinnamon buns. It had the same worn look, pages ripped out but stuffed back in place, stains on the pages of recipes commonly used, a few pieces of paper with extra recipes tucked here and there, all signs of a cookbook well used.  

The cover may change but the recipes apparently don't.

Maybe this won't come as a shock to you, but I have barely opened that book since I bought it. Until now I declare!  In fact, I used it Easter weekend.  I would like to say I'm high on culinary ambition but that would be a HUGE stretch, so I'm going to say I'm mediocre on culinary ambition and low on culinary confidence.  I was shocked and AMAZED to see that the recipe for hard-boiling eggs could be found in this cookbook.  How hard can boiling eggs be?  Not very apparently, but I just wanted to double check to make sure I somehow didn't mess up the girls' Easter eggs for decorating.  No wonder this cookbook has stood the test of time - it has it all!


Just one more shout out to the neighbors immediately next door - the same ones who sang us Christmas carols on our front porch in Russian at midnight on Christmas morning.  One of the kids brought this dessert surprise over to say Happy Easter...was that thoughtful or what?
 

It was a very sweet gesture and very happy cake decorating!

After successful hard-boiling of eggs (minus one that I broke dropping it in the pot - Shane so kindly showed me how to drop them in with a spoon - what would I do without him - seriously), the girls were excited to dig in and get their fingers dirty. 

Decorating has changed since I was a kid - you now longer just drop an egg in a cup of dye.  They have tie-dye kits and sticker kits and sponge paint kits, and glitter and special crayons; it is really crafty now.

Check out these beauts!

Love Potion

Breaking news! Due to popular demand, Love Potion will be available in quart size containers all year round now!!!  But only available by the scoop in February as their Flavor of the Month.  This required me to promptly by two quarts for dessert tonight and it absolutely made my day!

Movie Night and Popcorn Update

We haven't been home on a Friday night to have popcorn night in awhile it seems like.  Here was our movie selection:

By the time Kennedy got back from dance practice and we did dinner, baths, and got settled in for the night it was getting kinda late.  We started the movie but didn't finish it.  So I'm happy to report that because we paused the movie about a 1/2 hour in, I DID stay awake!

After her bath, Isabella was feelin' particularly foxy this night and had fun posin' for me:

Debbie picked up some popping oil for us to try out for a new-and-improved version.  It made a big difference!  It tasted much better! All 3 of us girls agreed - this is a must for our popcorn recipe.

Movie to be continued this Friday night!

Glacier Gak and Leadership Camp

This post is all about Miss Kennedy.  A little miscellaneous stuff thrown in here and there but also some stuff about our busy past weekend.

Could Kennedy be a People Magazine Future World's Most Beautiful Woman?

She went on a field trip to Fort Walla Walla last week.  On the field trip slip it said to wear tennis shoes, pack a lunch, pack a disposable camera, pack $20, etc.  We were excited to hear about her trip when she got back.  She took some fun pictures, not really so many of anything she saw that day, mostly of her and her friend, Kaitlyn, on the bus ride over there.  She was super excited to show her Dad what she bought with her $20 (which I might mention we did NOT know was solely for the purpose of gift shop purchases).

Here it is:

The best looking $18.95 rock you've ever seen!!

Ouch...that is a stinger. 

Isabella played with her Meme and Papa on Saturday so we were able to have a little Kennedy science time in between her leadership camp stuff.

This time we made Glacier Gak.  AMAZING stuff out of Elmer's glue, Borax, and water. 

She had fun blowing bubbles:

Most of Saturday we spent watching her at Leadership Training for Christ.  It's an organization "designed to stimulate and encourage Spiritual, mental, and social growth among young men and women in the 3rd through 12th grades. Its mission is to achieve this growth by developing skills in leadership, Bible knowledge, and Christian servanthood."

Kennedy's events on Saturday consisted of a scripture reading and her choir performance.  She also had Bible Bowl covering Revelations. Kids who placed #1 in their categories were asked to perform at the evening service.

Standing in front of a huge classroom of people (including two judges) reading a long and big-worded passage from Romans Chapter 12 takes alot of courage. She did great and looked so grown up.

I couldn't get the videos of her choir performance to upload but her choir sounded really beautiful.  Kennedy is quite the young lady and we are really proud of her.  She has the sweetest heart and I'm really happy to be part of her life.

Bruce Deaux

After seven months of newlywed-ed bliss, I finally got my name changed! There are officially two adult Bruce's at home. Next step: one address! :)