A Fat Tuesday Paczki Adventure

It's Mardi Gras, and for this family (mainly me) that means an excuse for paczki! So off we went to the donut shop in our Mardi Gras finery, in the midst of snowy ice rain. So we put on our puffy coats and pulled our festive beads out on top. The boys were very concerned that thieves may try to take their valuable beads. Vladdie decided to wear an Egyptian Kufi as well, because he rocks like that.
     We get to the Donut destination and Vlad DOES NOT WANT TO GO IN. This is very common for him, but I don't want to leave him in the car alone. So, I convinced him to stand in the vestibule where I could still see him, but technically would fulfill his "not going in" rule. The only customers were the gang of old-timers that are usually there all day.
     All was well and I was buying the last dozen they had left. As I went to finish my order, the Oldsters started to leave, and as they exited, they came across a sullen, kufi topped kid wearing 3 pounds of Mardi Gras beads standing in the vestibule. One Grandpa was enticed to say, "Hello". That was it! Vlad shrieked and flew out the door, running wild! The Oldsters ran off after him! Surely they were bandits, out to get his beads and mock his hated puffy jacket. I send Wolfie out after them. By the time I get outside, Vlad has made it all around the entire building, and I see him rounding the corner... Kufi falling over his eyes, tears streaming down his cheeks, beads swinging. He is clocked at about one MPH, as it is hard to run like hell when you have on rubber caterpillar galoshes. Close behind him was the gang of Oldsters, going about 1/2 MPH. Lastly, there is Wolf, who comments, "It's like the apocalypse!"
Good times...
p.s. the donuts were delish!

photo taken pre-apocalypse

cabin fever is setting in

This has been a week of fevers (cabin and regular fevers), coughing and sniffling. We haven't gone anywhere or  done much of anything. But some things roll on, like the weekly bread baking. My recipe has advanced to healthier status, now with ground flax and 100% whole wheat flour. I hope to add some other grains too.

NOTHING in the world is better than cast iron bread pans. word.

A project by request of Wolfie to have Heroica Barbarian shoulder pads. What's that saying about idle hands? So what would a barbarian's mother do when her sweet little Barbarian needs  new spiky battle padding? She would crochet him some, pronto!

  Please note that he wears ONE pad, but my barbarian really needed two. Oy.

sorry, but dark dreary days make for lousy photos. But isn't he fierce and spiky?

Then there is always internet shopping to do!!!! V;ad is a popsicle addict. I hate all the crap in them and I try not to buy plastic.  lo and behold, stainless steel popsicle makers! 

We can't wait to have these tonight! I thought about some less expensive and also some new techie types of pop makers, but I think these will last better for us. We will have to try some more creative ones but we started with ones made from some lemonade we whipped up and some O.J.

Speaking of Vlad and cooking, he got to play with the valentine cookie dough scraps. It kept his crabby butt occupied for a nice long while and was well worth the clean up effort.

Hope the week has been healthy and happy for you!!!!!!

Fun Times at the Hoffman Haus

Just a little peek into this past week...

Home made buns, mmmmmmmmm! We had egg salad sandwiches on these babies. Goodness gracious were they good. I made the mistake of reading the label on the fresh baked buns I bought last time from the bakery. I thought they would be decent since they were fresh baked. Nope, lots of stuff I couldn't identify, yuck. So I whipped up these bad boys. If you have a kitchenaid or food processor with a dough blade, you an whip up this dough in about 10 minutes with only water, honey, yeast, flour and salt.

BTW, Scaredy Squirrel books are HOT, HOT, HOT in our house right now!

I forgot to post our Punxatawney Phil cookies we had on Groundhog's day. This year I used my friend Reva's sugar cookie recipe and sandwiched them with some chocolate buttercream "shadows".


A cure for cabin fever-- the oatmeal box. My hoover hates me for it. Vlad loves it.


Speaking of keeping Vlad busy, let me introduce you to his mice. They are named Red Red, Blue Blue, Pink Pink...you get the picture. He has been playing with these for days! They were really easy to whip up, and a few are actually ninjas.


Wolf is loving being an Uncle. Luckily, Olivia is a sweetheart and a tough little cookie!

The weather here has been insanely warm for February in Cleveland. So, we hit the beach!

Swoon.

Well, let's see if snow hits this weekend. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I would like to go sledding. Plus, my bulbs are starting to sprout already! We will see what Mother Nature has in store!

A Slice of Life in the Hoffman School for Wayward Boys...

O.J. experiment--We squeezed oranges and gathered quantitative and qualitative data, comparing and contrasting with  O.J. from concentrate.

A dino dig! I picked up these paleontology kits for a buck each from some clearance rack somewhere a long time ago. We finally "dug them up"

Naked paleontology? No! Just all that chiseling worked up a sweat!

The reward of all that digging? Incredible growing dino! Just add water! and wait... for like 2 days...for it to increase by at least 2% in size!

Vlad made a bowling alley, with a ball return!

Aunt Robyn and Dad instruct in checkers and chess.

Dad leaves a message to 2 anally retentive youngsters.

The youths angrily respond with their own statement.

The very warm weather brings tons of wildlife to the campus.

The new 2012 motto for the kitchen

A mustache magically appears!

Wolf decides to color my old Peanuts collection. It looks so nice!

The school mascots are thriving! Vermicomposting is fun!

Ninjago, of course! Legos have become omnipresent!