Jumble Sale

To celebrate Cinco de Mayo yesterday, I decided to try my hand at flan for dessert. I ruined two batched of caramel sauce, and then Carl tried and had success, but never having made caramel sauce before he cooked it just a hair too long so that it started to harden as soon as we poured it into the baking dish. It came out mostly all right, and tasted fine (just a little bit rubbery on the bottom), but it didn't exactly look beautiful.

Oh well. It was an adventure. I told Carl that if everything had gone smoothly, we would never remember this particular Cinco de Mayo, but now, we will never forget the first time we ever made flan.

(And can I say how awesome my husband is? When I, nearly in tears of frustration, told him the second batch hadn't worked either, he put away his Hebrew without a word and came down to give me a break while he tried. And he never complained once.)

These two pictures are mostly for my sister, who has asked repeatedly to see pictures of Joy's new bob with bangs. Yes, they really are that crooked, but usually she's moving fast enough, or has brushed them awry anyway that it's not noticeable. I'm still not crazy about the overall look, but it keeps her hair out of her eyes, which is far, far more important than Mamma loving the look of a stacked bob without bangs. Plus I watched how they were cut, so I think I'll be able to keep them trimmed myself. Hopefully not so crooked, and hopefully to a longer length than they were originally. I really hated how short they were at first!

One thing I did while at my parents' house last week was go through some of my old boxes of stuffed animals, dolls, and doll clothes. The girls were beyond thrilled, thinking I was unearthing all these treasures for their benefit alone (well, it mostly was for their benefit, but there were a few things I snatched out of their grasping claws - my old and beloved Snuggle Bear is MINE ALL MINE NOT FOR ANYONE ELSE TO TOUCH).

Grace found an old doll bonnet in one box, and promptly put it on her head. She wore it the rest of the time we were at Mom and Dad's. Forward or backward, it didn't matter to her in the slightest. She is the funniest kid ever.

Joy fell in love with most of my old dolls. In this picture she's holding one of my baby dolls (Little Ann, Lis!), wrapped up in a dolly blanket. Gracie has an old Easter basket I didn't even know I'd saved, and the bonnet, of course. Backward. Joy was so careful and sweet with all the dolls; I definitely know what she's getting for her birthday in November. It was really fun to see my girls playing with toys I loved so well as a child.

And that's my hodgepodge for this week! We're off to my mother-in-law's tomorrow, to celebrate Mother's Day with her. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, wherever you are and whatever you do!