Tag Archives: kids

Mar11

Easy Cupcake Decorating Project for Kids

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Today was Emma’s 14th birthday.  Sister, Leah, decided to make homemade cupcakes for the birthday celebration.  I think her cupcakes turned out great. This is an easy project for kids of all ages.

 

 

 

After making simple chocolate cupcakes, Leah made homemade chocolate icing using the following simple method:

Blend 2 sticks of softened butter (no substitutes) in electric mixer until creamed.  Slowly add powdered sugar and milk (a little goes a long way) until the icing has formed a nice whipped consistency.  Gently add 1 teaspoon of vanilla and 1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips (that have been melted in the microwave). Homemade icing is worth the effort!

Then Leah piped the icing onto the cupcakes using a decorating tool made by Milton. While this makes the process much easier (and less messy), a large ziplock bag will work well too.

After icing the cupcakes, Leah used a rolling-pin to roll-out pink fondant. Then she used cookie cutters to cut-out simple fondant shapes. For these cupcakes she used an “E” for Emma. Kids find fondant really easy and fun to work with – it is so much like play dough.

Finally she put India Tree Silver Dragees (edible silver balls) on the cupcakes. These are a wonderful and easy way to make the cupcakes look fantastic!


Mar5

The Little Moments

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One day you are in the middle of a crazy time in your baby or child’s life and then you wake-up and realize that time has passed by, almost unnoticed. Our children grow and learn new things every day. But the change in our children happens slowly. So slowly that if you aren’t careful your child’s youth will pass you by.

My oldest child is graduating from high school this year. I cannot believe that she is almost all grown-up. It seems like just yesterday that she was a little toddler twirling in the grass dressed in a pink sundress. I wish I could get the years back now that they are almost gone.

I think you are more apt to miss the little joys of your first child’s life – at least if you are like me and many first time moms. You are so worried about doing everything right. Not messing up. It is hard to slow down enough to enjoy the simple moments.

But it is the simple moments that mean the most. Not the birthdays or the big milestones like learning to walk, to ride a bike or to drive – although they are great. It is watching your daughter play in the bath tub. Or maybe it is watching your son run around in circles until he falls down in a daze. Those are the moments to cherish the most. The little moments.

Feb27

Welcome to The Fine Print

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If, like me, you are trying to juggle the demands of motherhood and a career, you probably wake up some mornings feeling like someone forgot to tell you to read the fine print on the contract you entered into when you became pregnant with your first-born child.  You had no idea then how hard it would be to juggle the challenges that you would face in the coming years.  But aren’t you glad that you didn’t bother to read the fine print?  If you had – you might have missed out on the best thing that ever happened to you – your children.

After more than sixteen years juggling motherhood and a legal career, the best advice I can give you is to not to be too hard on yourself.  AND never, ever bother to read the fine print!  It takes all the fun out of motherhood.

Feb27

Amazon Mom

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Last summer I joined Amazon Mom. My neighbor told me that by signing up for Amazon Mom I would qualify for Amazon Prime (i.e. free shipping on most things) without having to pay the $79 annual fee to join Amazon Prime. I signed-up that day and have been ordering diapers (and lots of other things) online at Amazon ever since. I recently received an email saying that the Amazon Mom benefits were changing and that to continue getting Amazon Prime benefits, I would have to pay the joining fee.

This decision by Amazon has raised a lot of furor among moms. An interesting article can be found at TimeMoneyland.com: Amazon Backs Away from Discounts for Moms. My Amazon Prime benefits will be expiring March 31. I will let you know if I will give in and join Amazon Prime.