Buttermilk biscuits

This is day 3 in a row now that the boys have requested for buttermilk biscuits.  My good friend Linda gave me a cast iron pan for Christmas and she also included a recipe for the biscuits.  And oh, she also gave me this interesting looking Danish dough whisk.  I've never seen anything like this before. What an interesting item!

And the Danish whisk works really well too! How have I not come across this before??!  

I have to be so careful with this cast iron pan that has already been sitting in a preheated oven at 400F.  So here's the before:

And 15 minutes later,... YUM!!!

And below is today's batch, which is the 3rd batch - and it was definitely the best so far.  I've added a bit more butter (why not!) and also a bit more salt and a bit more sugar.  I also used the whisk a bit more to form the dough and also left them in the oven to bake for a bit more longer: 

Super YUM!!! These biscuits really did fill us up for quite a big chunk of the day, although we didn't eat them until about 11:30am.  And I didn't make the boys' their lunch until about 2:30pm!  I hope these boys don't get used to this as school is starting back next week. Yikes!  I need to stop thinking about going back to school and just enjoying this holiday a bit more.

Update on fish bowl

I can't believe Fishy is still alive!  We've had her since early September - that's almost 4 months! Our plant in the fish bowl however is looking a bit sad, so we sent Graham and Daddy to pick up a new one from the fish store/aquarium:

Fish bowl is looking much better now.  Bigger plant is the new one and smaller itty bitty one is the old plant.  I don't think the plant is getting enough natural light even with our "plant lightbulb".  Hmmm....

And Graham came back with a new snail too.  It's blue!

I think Bobby called it a "smurf" snail but somehow the name "Blue" is sticking.  I like it!

I hope this new plant survives a little bit better.  We've not figured out whether to take the plant out of the black plastic pot though. I told Graham to call the pet store/aquarium to ask if we should take the plant out of the pot, but he said "No, you do it!"  Ha! So I guess until I do... but I really still want to make him do it :-)

3D Pen and Mini blocks

Graham and Charlie received 3D pens for Christmas.  I figured I'd give it a try. Hmm... doesn't seem as easy as it looks. Why does everything look so much simpler on the internet?  

My first square ended up being a fly swatter.  Ha ha!

And then the other square (to the right) ended up being some sort of "abstract" art.  Yup, that's what I'm going to call it :-D

Well, I thought I'd give it some more thought and look... my first starfish!

Once the filament dries, it actually hardens up quite a bit.  So I thought I'd make my starfish into an ornament.  I love it!  Not too shabby for a beginner :-)

I'm glad Graham wanted to give the 3D pen another try:

Charlie's patience is still a bit short so in the meantime, he is working on his mini blocks:

Isn't Charlie's little dinosaur so cute?!?

And here is Graham's little mini digger:

It's not much but glad the boys were off their video games for a bit today!

And here is Graham's 3D house.  He was so happy with it! 

Soon enough, we will have bigger projects :-)

Merry Christmas!

Christmas is finally here! Wow, where has the time flown.  It didn't seem that long ago when the whole Covid thing was just a new thing on the news.  And now 9 months later, it has actually gotten worse in California and around the world too.  Some countries are even battling with a new strain.  What??!

Well, as long as we keep to ourselves, I think it is all good.  I'm so glad the boys have not fussed too much about just being contained at home.  And I'm sure these holiday gifts will help too!  And oh, Elvis our elf made another appearance this year.  I'm not sure if Elvis really makes a difference with Graham and Charlie's behavior though.  Hmmm...

Our neighbor across the street gave us a couple of ornaments for the boys to make.  So cute!

Photos of Santa's "elves":

Graham and Charlie kept asking to open their presents on Christmas morning but Bobby and I kept asking them to wait for us to at least let us make our coffee.  They actually did have to wake us up at 9am too.  We at least let them start with their Christmas sock:

Daddy got a jelly spatula the shape of a platypus.  I just had to :-) 

I got a sparkly narwhal! How cute!

Actually, we all got one of these teeny plush animals.  And also Groot planters (Groot is a fictional character from Marvel comics), and so many other goodies too!

LA Dodger shirts from Santa. Yay!

Connect 4 game from Ms. Linda:

Glow in the dark tracks from Santa for Charlie. He is so excited!

Graham always wanted one of these wooden projects.  Should be cute once he puts it all together:

Our good friends that we hang out with in our "Covid bubble" gave us this amazing crystal star.  WOAH!!!

Somehow Santa knew that Bobby needed new socks:

Mommy's' gift to daddy - a new popcorn maker. Perhaps this way, Bobby and Charlie can make their own popcorn instead of having me do it over the stove?!

Graham gave Daddy a card game called "Exploding Kittens". It was a game they played with the other kids during camp in 4th Grade.  I was quite surprised about this gift but it obviously was a good memory for Graham:

Charlie gave Bobby a mug that changes from a Sad Face to a Happy Face when it's warm.  Too cute:

Of course the boys need more books but comic books that is for this time - Dog Man and Captain Underpants. Wow, just by these titles themselves, it makes me really wonder what kids are reading these days!

Graham and Charlie help with Mommy and Daddy's present from Grandma and Pop-pop.  I'm so excited about this shower stool.  Although I need to oil it first:

New boxer/underwear from Grandma and Pop-pop. I especially love the superhero ones.  I want some! Ha ha!

3D pens! Woo hooo!!!  Also from the Grandma and Pop-pop.  They definitely know how to spoil their grandkids!

We got a new ornament from my sister's family - it's the one with 4 of us wearing a mask. Totally appropriate for what's going this year.  Craziness!

I got this cool bracelet from my sister - suppose to be healing stones.  I hope they have calming effects once school restarts in January. LOL!!!

This is one of the gifts on my wish list this year.  It's a wooden balance board. 'll just have to figure out some of the exercises to do with it :-)

No Christmas is complete without a Lego set!  I wonder how much money Lego makes every year during the holidays...

I'm so excited about these new flip-flops! 

And here is the boys' biggest present from "Santa". A Nintendo Switch!  Yup, Bobby and I finally caved in.  As you can see, Charlie is so super SUPER excited that Santa figured out his wish list!

And it obviously didn't take long for Daddy to set it up.  Literally Plug and Play!

These boys better not tell me that they are bored with all these gifts:

Although just a few hours ago, Charlie did say he was bored and I didn't let him play on any of his computer games.  So what does the kid do, he goes and take a nap.  Ha ha!!

I got so tired of Bobby putting the cooking utensils on the counter top so I got him this red little rooster that you put on the side of the pan, where you can set the cooking utensil.  Let's see if Bobby is going to use this:

My sister also got me these fancy ear-rings.  Too bad I don't have anywhere to go with them, but I've been wearing them every day since Christmas :-D

Time to try out those 3D pens! It's definitely a bit tricky.  I hope the boys learn to have some patience for it:

I couldn't help it but get these chocolate and candy cane stirrers.  Yummy in my coffee and yummy in my tummy!

Family we-fie!!!  Next year we'll have to get Daddy an elf outfit  :-)

Oh, I couldn't help myself.  These are for me.  He he...

I think this Lego set might take a while (thank goodness!):

Another family we-fie during dinner.  This year we decided to just get a takeout dinner from a local restaurant.  I don't remember doing this much takeout since the pandemic started!

And to cap off the night, we play Exploding Kittens.  Quite the game!  We've played 2 games and Graham has been victorious both times!

What a Christmas!  We're so blessed to have our health, each other, and so many gifts as bonus this year. Fingers crossed these vaccines work and we can get back to our normal lives again (whatever normal might be by then).  I won't be surprised if the boys are still Distance Learning by next year/Sept but I'm really hoping we can at least get them back to school physically at least 2-3 times a week by then.  I really need my space and more importantly, my sanity too. LOL!!!