Easter S'mores Jar

I'll start by telling you what these cute little Easter treats are not.

They are not healthy. 

Everything else they are: cute, simple, giftable, keepable, tasty, so on and so forth.  I'm giving some away and planned to keep one for ourselves, however, once the babies saw it they had to have it, so it's been eaten. But I think this would be a great "the Easter Bunny had a practice run" for kids to wake up to on Saturday morning, or to tuck it in a basket as a swap for the usual load of candy on Easter.

All you need is:

1 jar

ribbon or tulle for a bow

1 pack of graham crackers, crushed

7 peeps or bunny peeps

1/3 C brown sugar (optional)*

1 1/2 C Mini Cadbury Eggs

if giving away, a baking instructions card

To assemble jars:

Pour 2/3 of the crushed grahams into the jar. Layer the bunnies in next. In the center of the jar, pour the brown sugar if using, then the remaining grahams to support the bunnies. Top with mini cadbury eggs, Seal up the jar and tie it up real nice.

To bake:

Empty the entire contents of the jar into a bowl. Snip the bunnies into bits with kitchen shears. Pour in 1/2 C of melted, salted butter and 1 tsp vanilla extract. Mix well. Pat into a greased 9"x9" pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 15 minutes. Cool and cut into bars.

*note on brown sugar: this helps the bars to set, but if all that sugar on sugar on sugar makes you squeamish (as it did me) then you can leave it out. Be aware that your bars will not set until completely cooled, at which point they are still tasty, just not ooey gooey s'morey. If you want them warm, they will be crumbly. 

That Easter Long Ago

Long ago, on an Easter Sunday when Jeff and I were a new thing, we packed up two of our best friends headed over the mountains and through the valley to Jeff's grandparent's home in Salt Lake. We planned to spend the night there and wake up to see Music and the Spoken word on Temple Square, then attend Easter services and celebrate with Jeff's family. In the morning, my friend and I awoke to an Easter egg hunt the boys had prepared that led us all over the house. For years I kept the basket and the eggs, but many moves have left only one lone, little egg with a note inside as a reminder of that first Easter we spent together.

Quite a few things have changed since then- like, I havent't had a surprise egg hunt since- but what is constant is our celebration of that first Easter Sunday, long ago, when a tomb lay empty as a triumphant declaration, "He is not here: for he is risen..." (Matt 28:6). No other words make me feel as loved as child of God as these: He is risen.  I know that for me, for you, for all, Jesus suffered human failings, sorrow, pain, mistreatment, and illness, and then conquered mortality so that everyone will have life after death.

Life can be horrible, but not because God doesn't love us. Because God does love us He knows us, and He knows that we can overcome whatever challenges face us in life through the strength He placed within us and the strength we need from Christ-who experienced it all and can be our ultimate comfort and Savior.

This video is about the risen Savior and the human experience and it's beautiful and amazing and empowering.  So take two and half minutes to watch it, and then go and do something small and nice for someone.

Happy Easter Week!

Here Comes the Sun

  

Those first few days when winter begins to break and spring steals a breath or two are some of the best days of weather we get all year. No matter that it's only 45 degrees out, and that come fall, 45 degrees will bite our noses and chase us inside. For now, it's a token of change and we put on our coats and hats and run out into the sun to embrace and be embraced by it's warmth.

For the Love of Music

  

My mother was taught piano by a fierce and wonderful, little old Jewish woman named Gertrude Bloch.  Gert Bloch learned piano from Arthur Lipsky, who was taught by Leonid Kreutzer.  The good man Leonid learned the keys from Leschitizky, who had the great pleasure of being instructed by Czerny. Czerny was a pupil of none other than Ludwig van Beethoven. Counting out those pianists leaves my mother only five generations removed from Beethoven himself. Incredible, and in a good way. Incredible in a bad way is that none of her children play the piano.

However, this story can end happily and there is still time to remedy the vast oversight I've made. In the mean time, Sawyer is showing interest in a broad range of instruments and I'm seriously debating when he should began learning one in earnest. I think we'll begin with the piano, but for now, he'll bang the drums, toot his horn, and bow his homemade "violin."

Not My Gram's Banana Bread

Grandmothers seem to come standard with at least one recipe that is famous to their grandchildren.  Jeff's grandma Janeen makes ridiculously fluffy white rolls. His grandma Jean was known for her Sunday dinners, which maybe isn't exactly a recipe, but Jeff loved her Sunday dinner potatoes. My grandma Sybil mixed up a mean tofu and graham cracker snack. That's kind of infamous, but loveable nonetheless. My gram Dorothy, she is world renowned for her banana bread.

No one can make her recipe like she can. Trust me, many have tried, all have failed. I even received careful instruction by her own loving hand, but if she doesn't touch the recipe at all herself, it does not taste the same.  It's almost magical. 

I decided I had to give up trying to duplicate the phantasm and move on to creating my own arsenal of grandma recipes, and that's how this bread came into our lives. I make it weekly, I make it with all-purpose flour, I make it with all whole wheat flour, I make it with toddlers, and it's always delicious.

Seriously, it's really delicious. It usually doesn't last a day before it's all eaten. Also, it earns bonus points for being so easy to make. This bread is an angel, just like grandmas.

Not My Gram's Banana Bread

recipe adapted slighty from Deb

Ingredients
3 to 4 ripe bananas
1/3 C melted salted butter
3/4 C brown sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp vanilla
1 Tbsp vanilla, butter, and nut flavoring (optional)
1 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon (I like Saigon cinnamon best)
hearty dash of cardamon
1 1/2 C (190 g or 9.5 oz) of all-purpose flour- I always weigh the flour for this recipe

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

In a large glass mixing bowl (pyrex, 6-8 cup measurer, or whatever microwaveable bowl you have), melt the butter.  Add the bananas to the melted butter, and smash them all together. Mix in the sugar, beaten egg, and extracts. Sprinkle the spices, baking soda, and salt all over the top of the mixture, then stir thoroughly. Add in the flour, gently mix until combined, pour into a large loaf pan and bake until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 50 minutes to an hour. I start checking mine at 45 minutes and always get it right at the almost clean toothpick stage, with like one or two lingering crumbs, and it's perfect.

You can use the same amount of frozen bananas for this recipe, just defrost them first and pour off most of the extra liquid, then mix in the melted butter.

You may also substitute the same amount (by weight) of whole wheat flour for the all-purpose flour. It makes a heavy, hearty loaf, as opposed to a light and fluffy one. I love both.

Friday the 13th and Thursday the 19th, the days on which my children were born

Children fall into my "Best Ever Principle," which also includes spouses, weddings, families, and a favorite pair of shoes. These are things that, from each individual's perspective, should rank as their personal: The Best Ever.

Spouse-Jeff is the best ever husband. I think he should write a book or teach a class about it to other husbands, but that wouldn't be Jeff's way, which makes even more best (bestest?) ever.

Wedding- as far as these go, our wedding was the best ever. Years later, I still love everything we did to make our wedding special.

Families-easily, our family is the best ever. The Draper's have a family saying, "We're Drapers and no one else matters." But that makes Jeff uncomfortable, and perhaps rightly so (see the point about best ever Spouse), because we have such wonderful family on all sides, through all extensions, and we don't want to leave anyone out.

Favorite pair of shoes- currently a designer pair of leopard smoking slippers that I paid almost nothing for, making them, the best ever.

Now that brings me to my children. Individually they are the best ever. Sawyer can make a sword out of anything. He plays well with everyone and invents such creative games and even fresh new stories of knights and dragons and what he did last night. He can make anyone feel better with his budding vocabulary of kindness. He says things like, "Are you awright Mama? What's wong?" "Oh that's ok Ewoweeze. That happens." "Hey Dada, whatchu do today? What you have for lunch?" "Mama, what you think?" I say, "I think it's super awesome." He says,"thank you Mama, thank you for saying that."

Elouise is in the middle of a word explosion. She says Nana, Shane, Jesus, babies, birds, cheese, cheers, and what she can't say exactly, she rolls out in the most engaging baby babble while gesturing with her hands.  She sings songs- to others and herself- and one of her favorites is that old "Lemon drops and gumdrops" song. And her dancing. Golly it's good. She'll run up to her room all by herself, turn her alarm radio on all by herself, and start shaking her groove thing all around her room until someone comes to join her-and she'll laugh and laugh.

Together, they are the best ever. They are learning to play together and read together. Sawyer is already shaping up to be the best big brother ever. He gets snacks for Elouise, shares his food, lifts her up, takes her down from high places she loves to climb to, and calls to me whenever she gets herself into a little mischief.  Elouise rewards him with the best ever baby bear hugs and sweet, sweet kisses.  She'll also pat him on the head and chase him around shouting, "waaazaa" and will cross swords with him anytime he shares a blade with her.

So now you're convinced too, right? My babies are the best ever.

The Backyard Zoo

{he is one with the pride}

{I thought he might never come out there...}

Literally, the zoo took the place of our backyard and it was our most favorite place to run around, meet friends, or take Jeff along for a family outing when we lived in Minnesota.  We explored every nook and cranny and both Sawyer and I know that place like, well, the back of our yard. Sawyer ran right to his favorites (the underwater fish, the bronze tigers, the real tigers, the BIG bugs) and sweet Lula rode along happy to hear bird calls and keep pace with the wild one, as long as there were plenty of snacks to munch.

{Sawyer called this his "house"}

{going to the zoo members pre-showing of BIG bugs, armed with his bug kit}

{eating berries with the black bears}