Take it slow, take it easy on me!

Don't let the things that you can't do stump you doing the things that you are able to accomplish. Too often I find myself getting caught up in the "all or nothing" approach. If I can't get the house spotless, then why bother? If I can't get throught the mountain of laundry, then why start? But it's easier to tackle little bits of projects than to face huge mountains, especially when strapped for time and resources and energy (as most Momsters are!).

I have been afraid to tackle my closet since I moved homes a few months ago. I have had tubs of pre-baby clothes to go through, tubs and "out of season" clothes to go through. My jewelry was a beautiful sight for junk collectors, necklaces that were clumped into colorful balls of helpless looking tangles, earrings missing their friends and various hodge-podge items interspersed throughout the box. Then I saw this lovely idea for a cork board jewelry sorter and just happened to have a cork board lying around and some old fabric AND some push pins. The whole process took me about 10 mins and I love it so much! It added instant glamor to my closet and even inspired me to sort through two (yes TWO!!!) tubs of clothes afterwards.

So remember Momsters, don't feel it has to be perfect... Just tackle little bits at a time, because as the turtle knows, slow and steady wins the race!

Love and steadiness,
Kerry, the Momster

5 little pumpkins

Terrible quality of pics (I took them on my phone), but we made these for my daughter's class party.

1. Bake: I cheated and bought pre-made choc chip cookie dough which we baked as a big flat piece. 
2. Cut: The pre-made doughs swell more than regular sugar cookie dough so it's best to bake first, and then cut shapes while the dough is still hot. So we cut pumpkin shapes out of the cooked dough.
3. Melt: I bought a packet of orange candy pieces from Walmart, and melted in the microwave for 40 seconds, and stirred. Check your pack for instructions.
4. Ice: I used the melted candy to ice the cookies and then using a knife drew lines in half circles to create the pumpkin effect.
5. Decorate: My daughter then added green m&m's to the top as the stem, by dabbing the back with a little candy. She also decorated some with orange and brown sprinkles, and a few with smiley faces (not pictured).

 Love and pumpkins,
Kerry, the Momster

 

The Funniest Child in the World

I'm sure you are thinking that this post is about your child, because what parent doesn't think their child is the most intelligent, humorous little gift?

Well, I'm sorry to tell you that I think my daughter tops the totem pole in the humor department. Her mind is the most unique, strange little thing illustrated by this conversation:

Mom: I would love to take some photo's of you and your cousin, (I'm a photographer) dressed up like faeries, in that field over there. Wouldn't that be fun?

K: Yes!! Or, my cousin can be dressed as an angel, and I can be a dead cheetah!!

Mom: ::proceeds to laugh for a good 25 min solid::

I took the liberty of googling this "dead cheetah" phenomenon, and could not find one picture of a child as a dead cheetah. Can we say that this might just be the first original thought under the sun? Booyah Ecclesiastes!

(According to Ecclesiastes 1:9, "What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.")

Love and laughter,
Kerry the Momster

The Big 5

Today its official! My little baby is a bonafide five year old. One can't even classify her in toddler terms anymore in clothing, and she no longer has a car seat, but a booster! So grown up!

Of course, this rite of passage requires cupcakes at school. So she decided she wanted chocolate. I decided I did not want to make regular cupcakes- as often they are not that chocolate-y, but something more along the line of brownies. Brownies don't make for the same cute,colorful, celebratory indulgences as cupcakes however, and thus I made a new concoction. A hybrid of brownie and cupcake, ingenious!

It was as simple as mixing two recipes together, and the only real talent came in mathematically trying to figure out the bake time, as brownies have a shorter cook time. I was afraid that the cakes wouldn't rise sufficiently, and although they did not rise as much as regular cupcakes, they still came out spongy, but moist and speckled with Ghirardelli chocolate chips. The perfect choco-combo!

We dressed them in blue frosting, sprinkles and colorful toothpicks that I found on sale at Target. And my "big" little girl was off to school, looking all five and alive, leaving me with a whole bowl full of cake mix (I had double because of combining two recipes).But no fear, preggo-mama is here, and will certainly be ingesting the two-layer, choc-chip, brownie cake I was able to bake from the leftovers.

In conclusion, mixing the two recipes worked great and I baked at 325 for the number right in the middle of the two (35 minutes for the cake, and 25 minutes for the cupcakes).

Of course I sampled a few already...And by few I mean 9 ;)


Love and sugar
Kerry, the Momster

Creative Captures

As a photographer and mommy, this website is right up my alley. Taking a giant leap away from the stuffy Sears portraits, this creative lady has compiled a plethora of pretty pictures, all featuring babies in different scenes. Very inspiring!

Mila's Daydreams.

Love and laughter,
Kerry the Momster.