making and baking

We're keeping busy with our favorite activities: making and baking. There's been lots of making:  mini books, music, and hearts. The hearts were my attempt to steer my daughter into mass production mode while still maintaining the fun. No one wants Valentine burn out within the first few days of February! After wetting several sheets of water color paper with a sponge, she covered them in pink and purple. After they dried, we brought out our heart punch. It was her first time using it, and there was much enthusiasm. The excitement about the scraps almost topped the thrill of the "heart popper", as the puncher has now been fondly dubbed. I'm not sure how they will turn into Valentine's, but we're off to a good start.

Making an abundance of hearts is a definitely a sweet way to spend an afternoon...with the addition of my son serenading us on the piano (practice time is like a free concert these days... he's so good!), I was transported to one of those mothering moments. You know, the ones when you float out of your body and hover around the ceiling looking down at the scene thinking, "hold onto this memory... keep it safe... bottle it up... remember it when things aren't so smooth."

And so we baked. Baking is one of my favorite ways of saying "I love you" to (and with) my family. This gingerbread (via Laura) was perfect. Her daughter had baked and shared it last week  before ice skating lessons, and my kids were excited to make it themselves. The recipe is in the first Silver Palate if you have it, and I found it here, too. It's a good" throw everything in a bowl" kind of cake.  I love that there's no dairy (we avoid it when there are colds in the house), and the amount of sugar is fairly low. They ate it unadorned... no icing or dusting of powdered sugar... and begged for seconds thirds!