Book Review: The Lovely Bones

You may have seen the movie The Lovely Bones, but have you picked up the book, yet?

I saw the movie quite a while ago, so when I started reading the book, by Alice Sebold, I had a vague sense of what would be happening throughout, but nothing too definite. I honestly can't remember now if we had had any kids when I first saw the movie.

If you have kids, and you're sensitive to crimes against children (or even if you don't have children and you're sensitive to that), I really don't recommend you read this book. The beginning is a pretty brutal portrayal of what befalls 14-year-old Susie, and it made me a little ill to read it.

*SPOILER ALERT*

The rest of the book deals with Susie looking down from heaven and watching how her family and friends deal with her murder. She also follows her murderer at various points, which provides a different level of interest because you keep waiting and waiting for him to be found out and punished . . .

While I enjoyed the book for what I feel is probably an accurate portrayal of what families go through and how loss affects people very differently, I would not call it an uplifting book. While her family struggles on earth, even Susie is not particularly happy in heaven. It's heaven! I can't imagine not being happy and content there; and if I were to lose someone close to me (I'm talking about an unexpected death) I wouldn't want to imagine them anywhere but in a heaven where they feel every happiness all the time. I guess you could say I was a little disappointed with the portrayal of heaven.

Most of the characters in the book are likable, which is good because if they weren't I don't think The Lovely Bones would have enough redeeming qualities in it for me to say that I liked it.

As a parent myself, it's gotten more and more difficult to watch movies or read books dealing with child death. I can't imagine how I would deal with it myself, and it tends to make me a little morbid for a couple days.

I know I wouldn't re-read this book, but it easily kept me reading when I had free time. It was just okay to me, but not something I would recommend people run out and buy right now, as I would with other novels.

If you've read The Lovely Bones, you might be interested in Lucky: A Memoir, which is also by Alice Sebold. It recounts Sebold's own rape as an 18-year-old and how she overcame it. This has an even more brutal account of her victimization, but I enjoyed the uplifting and inspiring aspects of this book more than The Lovely Bones. Check it out!

A Summer of Flowers

When the weather started getting sunny this past spring, I immediately popped the boys in the double stroller and set out on a walk. We needed to get out of the house - I enjoyed it for the exercise, but something much more special came from it, too.

As we would walk through the neighborhoods, I did my best to point things out to Asher and Aiden to keep them entertained: "Oh! Did you see that squirrel?" "Those birds are talking to each other!" "Look at that beautiful flower - what color is it?" While Aiden just enjoyed looking around and taking things in (being only about 15 months), this became a routine for Asher and me.

Soon, Asher was pointing things out on his own: "Yook, Mommy, that bird is going home for yunch!" "Yook, Mommy! It's a byooful flower!" And I would respond by saying something like, "I know! Mommy loves flowers!"

And so began my summer of flowers. Anytime we were outside, if Asher spotted a flower (or dandelion) he would pick it and bring it over to me saying, "Here, Mommy! I have a byooful flower for you!" It didn't occur to me until partway through the summer to start saving them; when I had a book I was reading on hand, I would press the flower between the pages. He was just as excited to give them to me as I was to receive them from my sweet little boy. I think partly this is due to the fact that I know each year, each day, each minute he's getting older and changing, and I'm doing everything possible to preserve these memories.

I'm not sure how I'll continue to preserve them, or if it will even be possible, but I know that probably until the day I die I'll remember the summer that Asher was 2 as my summer of flowers. I know I'll probably never again have a summer like that, and I'm sure it'll embarrass Asher once he's older, but it's a little golden nugget that I'll treasure forever.

I realize one of those is a leaf, but he was so excited to give it to me
that I had to save it!

Candy Lover's Cake

Asher's 3rd birthday came and went, and I still can't believe he's 3! He had an absolute blast with his birthday - he was so excited about everything: cake, candles, presents, singing, seeing family, everything. In fact, today he said, "I need some more birthday, Mommy." Made me feel good to know that he really enjoyed everything about it.

For my little sweetie's actual birthday, I knew I wanted to make a cake that didn't require any fancy decorating by me, since I had already made a dinosaur birthday cake when we had family down to celebrate over the weekend (a post on that cake to come!). This cake couldn't have been easier as far as decorating goes, and the cake and frosting recipes are easy, too.

I used my favorite Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Chocolate Cake and Perfectly Chocolate Chocolate Frosting recipes because you really can't go wrong with either - they turn out every time. I love them.

And, since Asher loves Oreos, I decided to use them in the filling between the cake layers:

Oreo Cream Filling (original recipe can be found here)
8 oz. container whipped topping
4 oz. softened cream cheese
7 oz. jar marshmallow cream
12 oreo cookies, crushed
1. Combine first three ingredients until thoroughly combined. Refrigerate about 1 hour.
2. Stir in the crushed oreos, and spread on top of first cake layer.

Additional Supplies
fun size Kit Kats (I'm not sure how many, so just grab a Halloween sized bag of them)
M&Ms
sprinkles
Assembly
1. Place a dollop of frosting on the center of your cake plate, followed by one cake layer - this keeps the cake from sliding around.
2. Spread the bottom cake layer with the oreo cream filling, leaving about a 1 inch border.
3. Place the second cake layer on top of the oreo filling, and use chocolate frosting to frost top and sides of cake. Don't worry if it doesn't look pretty, it'll be covered with candy!
4. Place Kit Kats vertically around the entire cake and press slightly to stick them to the frosting.
5. Grab some M&Ms and place them in the space between the top of the Kit Kats and the top of the cake.
6. Cover the top with sprinkles and keep in the refrigerator until you're ready to eat!

This cake screams party! And, it's so fun for kids to eat because it's covered in colorful and chocolate-y candy goodness . . . You probably won't get many complaints from the adults either. :)

Waiting patiently while we sing . . . 

Working hard to blow out those candles!

Hugs and cookies,

Amanda

Cleverness Doesn't Always Work Out

When we found out I was pregnant with Baby #3, we had just seen both of our families and I knew we wouldn't be seeing them soon enough to tell them in person. So, I was bound and determined to figure out a clever way to tell them the news, other than letting them know by phone.

Here's what I came up with: I emailed all of our immediate family members, and all the message said was, "Look closely at this picture . . . "

And then we waited for a phone call or a response email . . . or SOMETHING. And we waited. And we waited. Nobody got it. I had to keep giving hints until finally I said, "Did you read what's on their shirts?!" And then people started getting it.

We tried it out on my sister and brother-in-law when they came to visit because I wanted to see how it went over; I put both the boys in these shirts after church. Brother-in-law didn't notice, and sister assumed Aiden was wearing a hand-me-down from Asher (which is actually true, but not the point). :) But we all figured everyone would get it with the caption I put with the picture.

Here I thought to myself, "What a fun way to break the news! We'll be getting excited phone calls within a couple hours for sure!" It was an epic fail. Oh well, at least it'll be fun to reminisce about it!

In case you missed it, here's How I Broke the News to My Hubby.

Strawberry White Chocolate Cake Cookies

Sometimes, I have an idea in my head for a recipe and it totally disappoints me. Either it's not the consistency I was looking for, the taste is "meh," or it just doesn't grab my attention. If I don't immediately go back for more, it's probably not a recipe I'll make again (unless of course a family member or friend raves about it - then I might make it specifically for them).

Luckily, that wasn't the case with this recipe. These little cookies are so soft, and the fresh strawberries add a hint of tartness that balances out the sweetness of the cookie and chocolate chips. I loved the white chocolate and strawberry, but if you're a fan of milk or dark chocolate, feel free to substitute that. Or, you could use a chocolate cake mix in place of the white cake mix and really change it up. And, if you want an extra kick of strawberry, you could use a strawberry cake mix instead of white. But, the recipe, as-is, is really delicious. I wanted to use almond extract, but apparently I ran out (hate when that happens!), so I used vanilla instead, which was still tasty. There are probably a hundred different ways to change up this recipe, so have fun with it!

Strawberry White Chocolate Cake Cookies
1 box white cake mix
1/3 c. vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 c. chopped, fresh strawberries
3/4 c. white chocolate chips
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, mix together cake mix, oil, eggs, and vanilla, by hand. Don't do this with a mixer or you'll overmix the dough and get a weird cookie texture.
3. Stir in the chocolate chips until just combined, then gently fold in the strawberries. Don't worry about distributing them evenly. You don't want to overwork the dough or it'll turn pink!
4. Drop by tablespoon onto greased baking sheet and bake about 10-12 minutes, or until cookies look set in the middle and the bottoms are light brown. Allow to cool on the pan for a few minutes before moving to a cooling rack.
*These are very soft cookies, so make sure you use a cookie spatula to remove them from the pan or they might fall apart before they've cooled. I also think they're best when eaten within a day or two.

Hugs and cookies,

Amanda

Toddler/Kid Art

Remember when I made this piece of crayon art? It was so fun and easy to do, but I bought the canvas in a 3-pack, so I've had 2 pieces sitting around staring me in the face for a long time now. I knew what I wanted to do with them, but hadn't gotten around to doing it . . . Partly because I was a little intimidated and nervous. It involves painting. With kids. Enough said.

I wanted to tape the boys' names on the canvas, then have them finger-paint all over it. Once it dried, I could remove the tape and their names would show up white against the colored finger-painting! Such a cute idea. And, I saw a recipe for homemade finger=paints on Pinterest which made the idea even more appealing.

I had the idea in my head that I would make four colors, and the boys would each get to use 2 colors: red/yellow or green/blue. Well, it didn't work quite as planned because Aiden's basically ended up orange, and Asher's is kind of teal-ish. Both cute, but I mistakenly thought there would be some separation of colors. Silly me. :) As my husband said, it just makes it look more like kids did it - which was the point, right? Right.

So when Dusty was at work this week I stripped the boys down to their diapers (actually Asher was naked because we're working on potty training hard core . . . more on that later) and let them have at it. Needless to say, it was a mess; but it was also really fun for all of us. Another great part was that even when some of the paint (inevitably) got on the table, it wiped up really easily. And the boys were plopped straight into the bathtub when they were done! Asher and Aiden (and Mommy!) were pretty excited to show Daddy what they did that day, and now we have some more fun art to put in their room or play area!

Supplies
canvas
tape
finger paints
1. Tape onto the canvas the word or name you'd like to use. Make sure to press out any bubbles and stick it on tight.
2. Finger paint all over canvas.
3. Allow to dry completely and delicately peel off tape.
4. Ta-da!
*You could also outline the letters with black marker before peeling them off, but I chose not to.

Homemade Finger Paints (original can be found here)
3 Tbls. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 c. cornstarch
2 c. cold water
food coloring of your choice
1. Place all ingredients except food coloring in a saucepan and warm over med.-low heat until mixture thickens. Whisk while you're doing this to avoid lumps. (Mine took 5-7 minutes.)
2. Allow to cool and color as desired. (I ended up using about 20 drops for each color, but next time I might use even more to make the colors more vibrant.)

Pausing for a pic - Aiden is all over that canvas!

Look at that concentration!

Total mess!

Me: "Okay, that's enough-time for baths!"

Aiden's finished product

Asher's finished product

Cinnamon Swirl Whole Wheat Banana Bread

If you love banana bread as much as I do, (basically in any shape, size or combination) I think you'll really love this recipe. It's even healthy - no oil, and all whole wheat flour! But don't worry, the taste is still sensational. You definitely won't feel as though you're eating a healthified banana bread. I could probably eat half a loaf in one sitting . . . Although, I refrained from doing that, at least until I got pictures taken. :) And the boys love it - it's great for an easy breakfast or afternoon snack!

Cinnamon Swirl Whole-Wheat Banana Bread
3 very ripe bananas, mashed up (a heaping cup)
1/3 c. unsweetened applesauce
2/3 c. sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 c. white whole wheat flour (feel free to sub. regular whole wheat flour, or white flour if you'd like)
Cinnamon Swirl
1/2 Tbls. cinnamon
1/4 c. sugar
1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour a 9x5 inch loaf pan and set aside.
2. Thoroughly mix bananas, applesauce, sugar, egg, vanilla, soda, and salt.
3. Fold in flour until just combined - your batter should still have lumps in it.
4. Mix together cinnamon swirl ingredients.
5. Spread half the batter in your prepared pan, and sprinkle evenly with your cinnamon-sugar mixture. (If you want, you can reserve some and sprinkle it over the top before you bake it.) Evenly spread the remaining batter over the cinnamon-sugar.
6. Bake 50-60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Make a double batch and freeze one or give to a friend!

Hugs and cookies,

Amanda