Holiday Cake Pops, Part 2

I've been practicing my cake pop skills, and I think I'm slowly but surely getting better! Check out these cuties:

Thanksgiving Placemats, Part 2

It's been a couple of years since we first made Thanksgiving placemats for the members of our family. I like for the kids to take some time to think about each person and write a little something down about why they are thankful for that person. This project is so easy: all you need is foam mats, pinking shears, stickers, and markers. This year I decided it's time to re-do them. Here are just some of my stepkids' contributions:

Holiday Cake Pops

So I have this wonderful book about cake pops and I've been dying to try some myself. I had done a test batch a few months ago and let's just say it didn't go so well. But this book has such easy-to-follow instructions that I thought I'd give it another try for my school's holiday dessert sampling. Check out my pops! I think they turned out pretty decent after all, although I definitely need more practice!

Re: the jingle bells--would you believe they make such a thing as edible spray paint, and edible markers?! That's silver spray paint and black edible marker you see there. Pretty cool, huh! I will definitely be making more.

Pink Blanket and Raffy

I recently read a really interesting article about security blankets/loveys in both childhood and adulthood. I'd never heard of the idea of "essentialism" (the concept that items are more than just their physical properties) before, but it makes perfect sense. Anyone who has cried a river (like me) while reading the Velveteen Rabbit will know exactly what essentialism is.

As it happens I've had direct experience with essentialism. Meet Pink Blanket:

Pink Blanket (aka Pinkie) was my beloved childhood security blanket/lovey. He is a small sleeping bag-type blanket that my Nana gave to me right after I was born. I have no idea why I named him Pink Blanket, because as you can see, he is not entirely pink. And also, Pink Blanket is most definitely a he. 

For years I dragged this thing EVERYWHERE. I also sucked my middle two fingers for far longer than was appropriate, and my comfort ritual was to squeeze together a tiny patch of fabric on Pinkie to make a small ridge, and tap that ridge with the tip of one index finger. I was kind of an anxious child, what can I say? But I remember so very vividly how much I adored Pink Blanket, couldn't really function without him (as I'm sure my older siblings and cousins will attest). You can even see evidence of his lifetime with me in the picture--numerous tears and worn spots, amateur attempts to repair them, and even some stains. See that small brown dot at the top of the picture? That's paint, from when I got in the way when my parents were painting our old pink Ford truck brown (yes, we really did have a pink Ford truck that we painted brown).

I still remember exactly how Pink Blanket smelled when I would hold him to my nose and take a big whiff. Kind of like my mom, but more like pure solace. I still have Pink Blanket, put carefully away in a box high on a shelf, of course. I'm sad to report that as an adult he does not smell the same to me as he did when I needed him as a child. The smell of Pink Blanket comfort is left only in my mind. But I'm glad I still have him and can take as good care of him now as he did of me as a child.

Now it's time to pass the comfort of essentialism on to my own child. I didn't realize the significance of any of this at the time, but the very first thing I bought for my son after I found out I was pregnant was this---meet Raffy:

I've already explained the giraffe theme of the nursery, and I knew the minute I saw this that I must have it for my son. Honestly, I didn't even really know what it was when I bought it--I was at a consignment sale and it was folded up tightly inside a sealed Ziploc bag. I thought it might be a washcloth or just a small soft toy. It was only $3 and of course was a giraffe so I bought it on the spot. When I opened it up and realized it was a lovey I knew that this was going to be my son's own Pink Blanket. I christened it Raffy.

We received several other adorable loveys as shower gifts: 2 other types of giraffes, a monkey, a zebra, and an elephant. They are all very cute and Kirk has enjoyed playing with them, but the one I've pictured above is by far his favorite. He sleeps with it at night and naps with it during the day. I love watching him rub and caress it, it's just the sweetest thing:

Kirk loves his Raffy just as much as I loved Pink Blanket! I'm so glad he has a comfort item.

Turkey Treats

I blogged about these adorable turkey cookies several years ago, and since then I've had time and practice to hone my baking and crafting skills, so I think these turned out much better than they did back then! My stepson has a Thanksgiving feast tomorrow and I foolishly signed up to bring desserts for the entire class. Being the perfectionist that I am it had to be something adorable and cute, so I decided to go with these. What do you think? Could they be any cuter??

They look complicated but they are actually fairly easy to make! Just use canned frosting as the "glue" to hold everything together. And, you can buy the eyes pre-made at Wal-Mart! (In the cake decorating aisle near the crafts--NOT the baking aisle in groceries). Easy and oh-so-cute!

Thanking a Hero, the Deppe Way

A few days ago a friend-of-a-friend on Facebook posted a message about a soldier who was recently severely wounded in a suicide bombing while serving in the Middle East. Hard to believe 10+ years later the heroes who serve so valiantly in our military are still facing such vicious attacks. This young lady was asking for cards and letters for her friend, Sgt. James Pierce, to cheer him up on his long road to recovery. We decided to put together a package for him with a bunch of leftover Halloween candy, a thank-you/get-well note, and some customized patriotic buttons that we made.

So we made a card, and as we had been working on our Thanksgiving place mats, all the Thanksgiving stickers were still out. I decided to go with the theme of "we're so thankful for you, your sacrifice, your bravery, etc etc", and wrote several sappy paragraphs about our appreciation for Sgt. Pierce and and our well-wishes and prayers for a speedy recovery from his wounds.

My stepson L, on the other hand, decided to write a Thanksgiving joke on the card to Sgt. Pierce. Check it out:

Yes, that is indeed a pilgrim with a large knife, saying "I'm going to kill you" to the turkey, and the turkey says in response "You are not going to kill me".  Heh. I sure hope Sgt. Pierce has a sense of humor!

Meanwhile, if you're interested in sending cards/letters/posters, etc, to Sgt. Pierce, message me and I'll send you his address. He sounds like a really great guy who could use some encouragement.

Humblers

Yesterday morning I was perched in our church lobby, as were several other people. Some were talking quietly in small groups and others were watching the sermon on the televisions scattered throughout the space. I often sit in the lobby rather than go into the giant sanctuary because I feel weirdly claustrophobic in such an enormous space filled with so many people. Occasionally there are people in the lobby who talk much louder than they should, and distract those around them from the service, which I find highly irritating.

Yesterday I noticed in one of the small groups of talkers there was a teenage boy who kept making this strange SSSSSSSSS sound as he talked, hissing like a snake. He kept getting louder and louder and it was definitely distracting. At first I thought it was part of a story he was telling, but he kept doing it. As I glanced over in aggravation it finally dawned on me that he is a stutterer, and he was valiantly trying to simply converse with a couple of adults.

Man, did I feel like a jerkwad. I can't believe I was irritated with this person who couldn't help how he sounded. It really humbled me when I started thinking about all the times another person has unwittingly irritated me and I had no idea what their story is or how hard their life may be.

It reminded me of a Facebook post my friend Greta shared the other day. I LOVE the message behind this, and I think the world would be a better place if we all practiced this philosophy:

The Giraffe Obsession: aka Kirk's Nursery

I posted pictures of my baby's nursery on Facebook eons ago, so this is a repeat for some of you, but I wanted to take a moment here to brag about my awesome crafting skills :) Teehee. In all seriousness I love to do crafts projects of all kinds. For several years I authored a monthly crafts-for-kids column for StepMom Magazine. Recently with pregnancy and a baby I haven't had as much time for crafts, much to my sadness, and I had to quit participating in the magazine. I miss it so much!

But to remind myself of the cool things I used to have time to do, here are some pictures of the things I made for Kirk. To begin I should explain why we chose the giraffe theme. Our infertility specialist had this poster hanging in his waiting room, and I instantly fell in love:

I love this so much! I knew immediately that if we were to be so lucky to get pregnant I wanted this as the centerpiece of the nursery. My mom, the quilting expert, made this gorgeous baby quilt:

Beautiful, isn't it? The picture really doesn't do it justice. You need to see it up close to really appreciate all the wonderful details. She's so talented!

And finally, I made all the rest of what you see here. I'm particularly proud of the slipcovers for the glider, because they were Not Easy. But I think they look so cute and I love the end result!

Of course there are tons of other giraffe decorations, and Kirk has no shortage of giraffe toys, clothes, blankets, and loveys. Bill often says that he is going to grow up to be either completely obsessed with giraffes (like I suddenly am!) or totally terrified of them. :)

Funny story about the wall letters: our name choices were either Kirk Michael (after our dads) or Ruby Geneva (after our grandmothers). I made the letters the day I found out for sure he was a boy. We waited another week to tell anyone else the gender and I tortured my mom by sending her a picture of the R. Heehee!