What a Day!

We took Our Princess to school this morning and then went home to get Our Oso ready for his 2 month appointment. He needed a bath and some Tylenol. Well, we got the bath done and forgot the Tylenol...Running out the door late for the appointment. We arrived and I had to go in the "side door"...you know the one they take you in when they want to talk to you about your account. Apparently, the insurance that we have been killing ourselves to pay has only paid one thing! Very frustrating!

Anyways, on a happy note, Our Oso has grown to 12 lb. 11 oz. and 23.5 inches. He was not happy about the vaccinations however...But Our Fairy had fun! The doctor let her play with the look-in-your-ear/eye/mouth thingy with the light on it and then gave her a tongue depressor when she left. She promptly tried it out on her little brother.

I got Our Oso's first smile on camera today! He's very selective about who he smiles at and I never have the camera handy when he does...

We got out just in time to get to the bank, then went to school and picked Our Princess up! Then we went home to do some housework...The weather was beautiful today! I love fall days when its cool enough to turn off the AC and open all the windows.

Anyways, upon looking in the cabinet I became aware that there was no Tylenol for infants in there! Poor Baby! I called my parents and they were at the commissary and would drop some off on their way home. Finally they got here around 5...poor, poor baby...needless to say, we were a demand feed family today, cause that's all I could do for him.

While I was consoling Our Oso and waiting for Maga to show up with the Tylenol, Our Princess learned how to tie her shoes! We had been working on it half-heartedly the last week and I promised her we would sit and do it this weekend, but I guess she was determined enough to figure it out herself! She still needs to practice getting it tighter, but she's done it!!

We went to Maga's church after that, where I do childcare and Our Princess goes to Daisies. I finally bought her shirt and workbook...I feel like a bad mommy sometimes, especially when my child is the only one not wearing the yellow shirt in class!

Estimation

Ok, so we were supposed to be practicing estimating with Our Princess these last couple of weeks at home, but I've been a little slack...beans in a cup are just the sort of thing that slips my mind when life happens...Anyways, we were at Uncle Brandon's birthday party which was mostly adults and babies and Our Princess was bored. She was rooting around Aunt Ellen's board games and found an old Mancala game. So I sat with her and taught her (without all the house tricks we used to play in college) and realized, she's having to estimate here! She loved that game and when I brought one home last night, she happily sat down with Daddy and taught him to play. She was a little put out when she lost the third game and then the 4-7th, but we are working on being a good loser. Definitely the best $3 I spent this month! I think game night will be an important part of our future!

Tinkie Class!

On the way to school on Monday, Our Fairy was asking if they were going to have the Tinkie Class at school today...Needless to say, I was confused! They were learning about Curious George all month, so maybe she thought the next progression was Tinkerbell? Anyways, I told her that they would be learning about Curious George this week.
"Oh, ok Mami..." she says and we go on our way.
Fast Forward two hours and I am arriving in her class to do spanish with K3. She runs up to me yelling, "Look Mami! Tinkie! Tinkie!" Again I have no clue what she's talking about, but I look down and she is pointing to my file folder that I carry all my spanish class work in and, sure enough, there was Tinkerbell. Apparently to her, Tinkie class was Spanish class.
And I am the teacher!
It makes sense now. She wouldn't know that I come to teach Spanish. She has no idea yet that other people only speak english...as far as she is concerned, I show up once a week to teach her class a song and dance. Foreign languages are foreign ideas for her. Chances are, if she doesn't know it in spanish, she probably doesn't know it in english either.

sneakers for two weeks...

I rocked Our Princess' world today...We've been having issues with finding shoes when we need them because two little girls don't put them away, they leave them all over the house. So, I told them yesterday that was the last time they would do that. The next time I had to ask them to come get their shoes and put them away, or we couldn't find the shoes we needed because they got left out, I would put all of their shoes away except one pair of sneakers for school. If they are able to take care of those shoes for two weeks, I will give back one pair at a time as they show how responsible they can be. Our Princess freaked out...you would have thought I asked her to go to school naked.
"Sneakers don't go with a dress!" My child owns one pair of shorts that we save for soccer practice. She wears skorts for PE. Needless to say, she's traumatized at the idea of having to wear only sneakers for two weeks. Hopefully, she will learn from this.

Pastel Tres Leches

Cake:
10 eggs (large)-separated
1 cup AP flour
1 tbs. baking powder
1 cup gran. sugar
1 tbs. vanilla extract
powdered sugar
wax paper

--Preheat oven 350 degrees. Spray 2 9 x 12 pans and put wax paper (sprayed on both sides)
Sift flour and baking powder together.
Beat yolks until light-lemon color (20 min. or so)--very thick, like pudding...they should ribbon when you lift the beaters...
Add 1/2 cup sugar 2 tbs. at a time.
Add vanilla & beat 3 min. more.

Whip egg whites until soft peaks form.
Add 1/2 cup gran. sugar slowly.
Fold whites into yolks 1/3 at a time with rubber spatula.
Add flour all at once and fold in.
Spread batter evenly in two pans and bake 20-30 min. or until cake comes away from the sides of pan, not wax paper (learned that the hard way)

Filling:
2 cups heavy cream
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 cups strawberries (sliced with an egg slicer is best)

whip cream and vanilla until soft peaks form
Add sugar and fold in strawberries
put in fridge.

Take cake out of oven when ready, let rest 5 min. then tip out on two clean hand towels sprinkled with powdered sugar.

make soaking liquid: (Make 2x depending on your taste, whether you like it super moist or not)
3/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup halfnhalf
1 cup evaporated milk

mix together with whisk.

Take first cake right side up, top with filling and place 2nd cake top side down on top. Skewer the cake all over and then drizzle (slowly) the soaking liquid all over. Place in fridge over night.

Now Tía tells me that I should just use egg whites and sugar, but I love a buttercream frosting and most of the cakes I've seen just use a glorified cool whip which I do not like...the one cake I loved used buttercream...it was also the most beautifully decorated (for a baptism).
** Should you decide to use whipped cream, it is very yummy, especially with cinnamon sprinkled on top...but only if you make it from whipping cream...don't go getting the blue tub!!

Frosting:
1 cup butter(2 sticks)
2 tsp vanilla
3 cups powdered sugar
4 tbs. milk
(the recipe I found for this said half, but it wasn't enough to cover the cake well enough to decorate. I suppose you could do it in two halves and tint one...)

Beat soft butter in a mixer until soft and fluffy (about 10 min.)
Add vanilla and mix 2 min.
Slowly add powdered sugar until well incorporated.
Add milk.

Cover the cake with frosting, using whole or sliced strawberries to decorate.

you broke my heart, Daddy!

The Princess Dramas

Last night Our Fairy was getting ready for bed...I'm not quite sure what Daddy did, but she came running to me to tell me that "Daddy bwoke my heart Mami!"
"What did Daddy do, honey" I ask. Oliver came in after her and before she could say anything asks, "Where's your heart Leyni?"
"In my tummy!"


I was channel surfing on the radio this morning on the way to take Our Princess to school and the news was on one...they were talking about Joe Wilson and the comments that Carter made about him. I changed the station real quick, but not before she heard the word racist.
"what's racist, Mami?" I thought for a few moments, trying to give her an idea without disillusioning her or giving her ideas. "It's a bad word. It describes people who treat others differently just because they don't look the same."
"oh," she says, "its not those things you put on your teeth? You know, the metal stuff?"

The wonderfully refreshing ideas they come up with!!!