April Book Club, The Hundred Dresses

Courtney's girls hosted our April book club for Eleanor Estes's, The Hundred Dresses.  This book is a short read but a good one.  There is a Polish girl in the story who is singled out and bullied by a group of girls who don't realize how much their words hurt until it is too late to apologize.  We had a great conversation with our girls about what it feels like to be the girl standing outside the crowd and not quite fitting in or being left out entirely.  We tried to remind them to always be welcoming and that you never know what special gifts and talents a person has until you get to know them.  The craft was to design dresses for these adorable paper dolls... brilliant!

Easter Mass 2018

Emily was blessed and honored to be cantor the 6pm Easter mass at our church alongside her friend, Rebecca.  Oh my goodness, my heart is so full when I see Emily singing on the altar at church.  She also attended the Easter Vigil on Saturday night with her brother.  This mass doesn't let out till almost midnight so Chris and I let them go together and picked them up after.

My girls with their Momma Mary.  I love this new statue but I have not quite gotten used to the new and much larger fountain.

Emily and Rebecca.  Love these girls!

Me and my love.

Chris and I and our girls.  David volunteered to tend to Isaac so we could enjoy and give our full attention to watching Emily sing at mass.

And one more, because why not...?

Happy Easter!  God bless you!

Easter Fun 2018

We typically dye our Easter eggs in those drugstore PAAS kits but after seeing a fun video on my FaceBook feed, we decided to try another technique.  It was pretty simple and the results were gorgeous!  Super important though:  Wear gloves!!!

 

The steps were simple:  Boil eggs, soak for 20 min in vinegar  (so the dye will adhere better), put shaving cream in a pan, put blobs of color and swirl with a toothpick, roll eggs in dyed shaving cream, let eggs stand on paper towel for 20 min,  wash eggs off in a bowl of water, blot dry with a paper towel and let dry.  

Yes, everyone loved this craft.  Isaac is so lucky to have older siblings... the world and what they do is infinitely interesting to him.

I initially thought Emily's eggs came out the coolest... she stuck with the blue/green/yellow theme.

In pure David fashion, he wanted all the colors, which usually results in brown or murky green results... however his eggs had the look of deep space with interesting random red splotches.  So ultimately, David made the best looking eggs this year.

This is what they looked like while still a little wet:

As they dried, they took on an interesting speckled look and interestingly enough, the colors evolved over time with certain colors becoming brighter and others fading.  So fun!!!

Merry Christmas from the Nelli Kids

Christmas 2017 was a little different than our typical Christmas...  We went to mass on Christmas Eve and opened up presents that night instead of Christmas morning.  Here is my traditional picture of the kids each holding the gift they want to open first.  It annoys them to no end... but they humor me.

Isaac got to open the first gift.  He was so excited about the army guys that all he wanted to do was break them open and start playing right then.  His siblings wanted  to play too... and got to work as soon as the gift opening was done.

 My "big" present:  a knife sharpener.  Yes, a knife sharpener.  I'm a lucky gal.  ;-)

Chris always gets amazing ties from Courtney!

Even though we own the entire Harry Potter series, I had to buy the new illustrated edition because it is so amazing.

A glowing fidget spinner for David... yes!

How the Grinch Stole Christmas for Isaac, of course.

And all my kids playing army guys together.  Yes, my heart is full.

Jed and Lexi visit!

We were super excited to have cousins Lexi and Jed over for a visit right before Christmas.  Lexi is also Isaac's God mother and she made sure to spoil him with presents... he hated every minute of it, let me tell you.  Emily and David played their instruments and it was all very festive!  This little video clip is hilarious on so many levels because so much is happening all at once.  David is playing his clarinet and Isaac is experiencing a whole range of emotions and showing butt crack to boot!  Ah yes, family life!

Fall Colors, Out and About...

Some days it is just too beautiful to stay inside and do schoolwork...  This day was one of those days and we loved seeing all the fall color.

Plum Cake

I buy plums at Costco because Lia likes them so much and so do a other few members of our family.  This one time, however, we had about 6 plums that were overripe and I wasn't sure what to do with them.  Luckily, I came across a recipe for Plum Cake and it was so good!  We especially like it wiht ice cream on top and thought it tasted like cobbler.  So for posterity, here it is:

Late Summer Plum Cake

METRIC  CUP MEASURES

By Jennifer Segal

Servings: 8-10

Prep Time: 20 Minutes

Cook Time: 70 Minutes

Total Time: 1 Hour 20 Minutes

Ingredients

• 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour, spooned into measuring cup and leveled-off
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon cardamom
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 8 tablespoons (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened, plus more for greasing the pan
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar, divided
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup milk (low fat is fine)
• 1 pound plums, pitted and quartered

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F and set an oven rack in the middle position. Grease a 9-inchspringform pan. (Alternatively, the cake may be made in a 9-inch cake pan or pie pan and served directly from the pan.)
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, and salt.
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or beaters, cream the butter and 1 cup of the sugar until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla and beat on low speed until well combined. Gradually add the flour mixture, alternating with the milk, and beat on low speed until smooth. (Note: the batter will be quite thick.)
4. Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and smooth the top with an offset spatula. Arrange the plums on top, skin side up, in a circular pattern so that they mostly cover the batter. Sprinkle the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar over the plums.
5. Bake for 60 to 70 minutes, until golden on top and set in the center.
6. When the cake is hot out of the oven, run a knife around the edges of the pan and then remove the springform edge, leaving the base in place (if using a springform pan). Let the cake cool on a rack completely. Slice and serve with ice cream or whipped cream, if desired.
7. Note: This cake keeps well, loosely covered at room temperature, for several days.