Making Snow Ice Cream!

It snowed again this week!

 It was a beautiful winter wonderland!

I brought some of the freshly fallen snow inside and we made snow ice cream!

Snow Ice Cream
(www.bloomingonbainbridge.com)
Big bowl of snow
2 eggs
2 cups sugar
4 cups milk
3 teaspoons vanilla


Beat the eggs until light and fluffy.  Whisk in sugar, then milk, then vanilla.

(I did not want the eggs to be raw, so I heated the eggs, sugar, and milk mixture on the stovetop until it began to steam, then added the vanilla and chilled it in the refrigerator for a few hours before adding the snow.)

Note:  I cut the recipe in half, but it needed a little more vanilla after the snow was added.  It did not take very much of the heavy wet snow.   Our big heaping bowl of snow was still almost full after we were done adding the snow to the mixture. 

The snow was cold!

We used a stand mixer to mix the snow with the chilled ingredients.

Elli thought this was fun!  Kaitlyn wondered why we had never made snow ice cream before!?

Yummy!

Chinese Lantern Festival ~ 2013

The Chinese Lantern Festival is celebrated on the 15th day of the first month of the lunar calendar.  The Festival marks the final, or 15th day, of the Chinese New Year celebrations.  This year, it fell on February 24th.

Vibrant fireworks displays and colorful lanterns light the sky at the beginning of the new year when there is a full moon.  Lanterns can have riddles on them and come in all shapes and sizes including the shapes of Chinese zodiac animals.

Sticky rice dumplings are eaten on this day and are thought to bring happiness and good luck in the new year.

To celebrate, I made Chinese paper lanterns using 4 x 6 craft matte paper.  I folded the paper in half and used scallop craft scissors to cut six slits starting at the folded edge and leaving a border at the top.

I unfolded and rolled the paper into a lantern shape and secured it with tape.

I inserted a rolled 4 x 6 yellow matte paper.

I found a small strand of ten Valentine heart lights.  I removed the plastic hearts and inserted a light into each lantern and secured it with tape.

 Our Chinese lantern festival!

Our preacher and his wife had given Elli a new book for Chinese New Year called "The Year of the Snake" by Oliver Chin.  It was a very cute book, so we decided to start the collection for Elli beginning with her birth year!  

2010 The Year of the Tiger

2011 The Year of the Rabbit

2012 The Year of the Dragon

2013 The Year of the Snake

There are twelve Chinese zodiac animals.  The next eight years are horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog, pig, rat, and ox.

The Chinese culture has organized time in cycles of twelve years.  The Eastern calendar is based on the movement of the moon as compared to the Western calendar which follows the sun's path.

We also got Elli the book, "Celebrating the Lantern Festival" by Sanmu Tang.

Happy Chinese Lantern Festival!!

Playing Little Red Riding Hood

Elli still likes to play Little Red Riding Hood and bring "soup to help you feel better".  

She put on the red-checked liner from the basket for her little red hood.  :)

Elli Writing Her Name

Elli is proud that she can write her own name!

Elli wrote her name on her Sunday school paper a few weeks ago.

Practicing writing on a chalkboard.

Elli used to put many, many horizontal lines on her E's.   When she was looking at a wide-tooth comb, she started pointing from the top to the bottom saying, "E!...E!...E!...E!" 

It's also cute that Elli thinks the "m" on M&M's are "E" for Elli.  :)

We are now starting to work on writing her full first name, Elliana.

Lots of Snow!

When Kaitlyn told Elli that it was going to snow, Elli said, "I hope there's enough snow for everyone!"

Yes, yes there was...

Kaitlyn, Elli, and Brady

 Hot cocoa with marshmallows!

Mama's Little Helper...Making Valentine Sugar Cookies

Watching Jie Jie...

Elli was happy that she got the cookie on the spatula!

 Love her eyes!

 Elli loves helping and baking!

 I saw that...

Old Computer Game Memories

Kaitlyn is having fun reliving some of her childhood memories with Elli.  Kaitlyn absolutely adored the Easy Bake Kitchen computer game and play set when she was Elli's age.  Now she and Elli are having fun playing it together!

Here is one of the "treats" they made following a recipe.  Aww... they decorated it with "For Sister".