Bring on the King Cake!

When Mark and I went to New Orleans for the weekend for the high school football finals, I bought some beignet mix b/c Katie always talks about how much she loves to get beignets when we go to New Orleans. I had been putting off (and putting off) making them b/c I thought either they would be a giant mess or a giant failure! So when she woke me up this morning, once again, begging for us to make them, I gave in, and, luckily they were neither too messy and they actually came out pretty darn good.

The recipie calls to cut then into 2 and a fourth inch squares once you roll out the dough, but I thought a cookie cutter would be easier. Strangely I couldn't find just a plain circle cutter or the right size cup to use, so we used a heart cutter. I thought the "Valentine" beignets came out pretty cute:

Here we are frying them up (that was my job):



Katie was the sugar duster:

Emma was the taster! (she actually helped Katie and I cut them too):

... and the final product:

Now I can see the girls asking for them every Sunday. (And we even made it to church this week!) My next mission is King Cake! Bon Appetite!

American Girl weekend in Dallas

This past weekend, the girls and I went to Plano to visit my sister and her family and (of course) visit the American Girl store in Dallas. This will be the 3rd time the girls have been, and it is so adorable. We did lots of other things like shop and eat out, but I only had my camera this one day.

Here's the girls with my niece Emily who actually passed down her American Girl doll to Katie for her "first" doll:




Here's proof that I went on the trip b/c I'm in no other photos:



Here's Nannie Jane (my sister), Emily , Katie and Emma before we leave:




We parked in a parking garage below the store, and when we came up, I thought this was going to be this amazing picture with the store in the background, and... well, it wasn't so great. Katie is also giving her "gangster" pose here, (nice):

Everyone outside the store (can you say "squint"):

Katie and Emma just got Felicity and Elizabeth for Christmas this year, and I think they are the most beautiful dolls. They are getting ready to be retired soon:

In the bathroom, they have the most adorable holders in the potty for your doll!

So the highlight of the trip was the tea at the bistro :




With the tea came an "arts and crafts" of sorts. We got to make hats for the dolls (and I do mean we ALL made hats). I love the concentration on Emma's face:

Elizabeth sports the most beautiful hat at the table (Missy's! - aka her "grandmother" - get it, since Emma is her "mom"):

Even Nannie Jane and Emily make hats:

Katie and Felicity:

This was a partially eaten tea tray at our table. We had tons of food and brought some home. There were little sandwiches, fruit kebobs, cupcakes, and brownies:

Katie and a tiny sandwich:

Emma and Elizabeth's tiny tea cup:

Elizabeth and her party outfit and snack and tea:

Felicity (notice the amazing fashion hat) with her snack and tea:

It was a blast. The girls never tire of visiting there.

We also got to swim at Jane's amazing rec center with indoor slides and a lazy river. I brought my camera there, but my battery had slipped out of it into my booksack at Jane's house, so I only took a few photos with my phone which I haven't downloaded yet. I'll try and do that this weekend.

Nutcracker ballet picture

Just got these in the mail today. Here's my little cook!