Daddy's flower for Ellie

A hair band and a clothes pin

What would you do if you were a one year old, had found your mom's headband as well as a clothes pin?
If you were Ellie, you would
1. While wearing the extremely attractive headband, work on grasping the clothes pin (which you have practiced many times with Mommy on the roof when she takes the clothes down).

2. Clip the clothes pin to the top of the diaper (because it's too hot for your mom to put you in any other clothes that would be easier to attach a clip to).

Donuts!

Last night I somehow got the motivation to make donuts. My friend and I had talked about it the day before, but we were just brainstorming things to possibly make in the future. One of my cookbooks had a pretty simple recipe, so I mixed all the ingredients together. It has yeast in it, so it has to rise and then you beat it down. After that the recipe said to roll it out and cut circles. Ha! Like I have a donut circle cutter! I just rolled it like Ellie and I make snakes with playdough and put it into loops. Then, because I remembered the advice another friend gave me after she had made donuts, I left them to sit on OILED trays. This dough is a bit sticky... and it's humid here, so the oil is essential.

You may think the next picture looks exactly like the one above, but don't be fooled! Because I feel it's necessary to share with you the joy of this process in great detail, I am also including a picture of the donuts after I let them rise.

Then I took those and I dropped them in the oil. I flipped them over after a few seconds.
These are my results. The darker ones got a bit burnt. I think I originally let the oil get too hot. When my sweet husband saw the donuts, he (thinking I was such a good cook that it would be impossible for me to burn something) asked if they were flavored ones. :) The ones on the right were done next, and they progressively got better. The bottom ones were done last. I call them "Lorina's Lovelies". (Because any food this yummy needs a special name.)
The recipe then called for me to cover them in icing or powdered sugar. I didn't have any of that, so I just used regular sugar. And, I only dipped "Lorina's Lovelies" in it. Franklin's not a big sugar fan, so I probably would have ruined his enjoyment of them if they all had sugar. Also, I didn't want to waste my sugar if the burnt ones were horrible.
So, my friends, that was my adventure into donut making. It was really not hard at all. I don't know why I thought it would be so difficult. And they are delicious!!! I not only leave this experience thinking, "I CAN do this again." I am thinking, "I WILL do this again."

And just a note for you health nuts out there... this recipe contains mashed potatoes... and potatoes are a vegetable... so consider "Lorina's Lovelies" the next time you are looking to sneak in a vegetable. :)

Daddy's clothes

Seriously, it seems like every time I turn around Ellie is wearing some of her Daddy's clothes. Sometimes shoes, mostly shirts, a hat every now and then. The other day, she decided to try on his pants.

I guess, now that I think about it, she tries on my clothes, too. She likes to use my orna as a dress or a sari. And, now that I think about it even more, she also likes to run around with a towel on, and she calls it a dress. Maybe this is just a dress up stage.

I think the reason she wears Daddy's clothes the most, though, is because they are so easily accessible... meaning not hung up where they should be. :)

Lipstick

Who on earth would offer a one year old, who LOVES to open containers and play with whatever is inside of them, three lipsticks?

No, it was not me. I don't even own a proper lipstick... I just have chapstick and lip gloss... which she has already destroyed (aka played with).


It was her beloved Chachi, our landlady who lives upstairs. We went upstairs to watch the World Cup opening ceremony with them, and Chachi loves to help Ellie have fun.

Potty Training

English Movie Night

My English students are tons of fun to be with. We had an English movie night recently. I learned three lessons.
1. Even if your English students are on time to class, they will probably be late for an event at your house.
2. Even if they say it's ok to just set everything on the table and they will serve themselves, you still need to dish their plates up and serve them.
3. Girls this age don't watch animated movies. (Franklin and I love Madagascar.) They wanted either an "action" movie or "romance".

I'm looking forward to the next time I can get together with the girls outside of class. And they are all looking for the next time they can play with Ellie. :)