Food Fun Family

Piano Fingers #WW

Lolli — Tue, 14 Jan 2014 23:46:51 +0000

My son had a friend over today, and I thought it was so adorable that the first thing they did together was sit down at the piano, side-by-side, and play a few songs.

Aren’t these adorable piano fingers? (Please ignore the condition of my piano. We found it at a yard sale in 1999 and despite the state of the keys, it’s a wonderful instrument!).

What have you been up to lately?

A Medieval New Year #WW

Lolli — Wed, 08 Jan 2014 02:41:33 +0000

This New Year’s Eve, my family and I were invited to the Baltimore/Washington DC Medieval Times for a special family Medieval New Year celebration. More to come on that (I took a TON of pictures!) but for now…

What have you been up to lately?

An Adventure to End 2013 #WW

Lolli — Tue, 31 Dec 2013 22:00:07 +0000

My mother in law has been in town for this past weekend, and in an effort to get out of the house with all of the kids yesterday, we piled all five kids in the car and drove to Cafe Rio for lunch. After a fantastic lunch (have you seen the copycat recipe I posted yesterday??), we drove to Five Below, where I needed to make a receipt adjustment, and where we can always find things to fill our cart.

Shopping with five kids is no easy task, even when they’re big…

We finally made it back to the car, with just enough time to drive home to get KitKat changed and off to work.

And the car wouldn’t start.

30 minutes later, after consulting with several people (we happened to be parked next to an auto parts store), we gave up. We decided to walk a half mile to the nearby theater and catch a movie until Dad could meet us to try his hand at getting the car to start. But we weren’t exactly dressed to spend 30 minutes outside.

We headed back to Five Below, stocked up on hats and gloves and a few scarves (and one fleece jacket for a certain 8 year old who had escaped the house in short sleeves) and walked the distance to the movie theater.

This morning, we donned our hats and gloves to recreate the scene next to our van before taking Nana to the airport.

Despite the fact that we weren’t overly thrilled about the circumstances, we ended up having a fun adventure. What a way to end the year!

What have you been up to lately?

A Christmasy Happy Birthday #WW

Lolli — Wed, 25 Dec 2013 04:24:00 +0000

I woke up this morning the mother of a 17 year old daughter. We partied all day – a morning movie followed by frozen yogurt, then an early dinner and a Christmas concert at the DC LDS Temple Visitor’s Center (so good!) to finish the night. Oh, and let’s not forget birthday presents (pictures coming later).

I think it was a good 17th birthday…

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Winter Concert Time #WW

Lolli — Tue, 17 Dec 2013 22:33:02 +0000

Tis the season for winter concerts…and we’ve had a ton of them! High school barbershop/chorus, elementary school orchestra, high school play….and later this week we’ll have high school orchestra. Fun times!

What have you been up to lately?

Gingerbread Houses 2013 {Wordless Wednesday}

Lolli — Tue, 10 Dec 2013 22:50:59 +0000

Our first snow day of the year was the perfect time to decorate the traditional gingerbread houses. The kids had so much fun putting their, um, personal touches to their houses…

What have you been up to lately?

Christmas Tree 2013 {Wordless Wednesday}

Lolli — Wed, 04 Dec 2013 02:36:48 +0000

I’m trying not to mourn the (hopefully temporary) loss of a memory card that contains all of the traditional pictures of my kids decorating the Christmas tree this past weekend. Luckily, I snapped two shots with my phone…and may just have to take some new pictures of the tree this week.

I love that it’s looking like Christmas around here!

Christmas Tree 2013

FROZEN Marshmallow S’mores Sundae #DisneyFrozenEvent

Lolli — Tue, 26 Nov 2013 21:59:20 +0000

Note: I was invited to the brand new Ghirardelli Soda Fountain and Chocolate Shop next door to the El Capitan Theater (where I saw FROZEN last week as part of the #DisneyFrozenEvent press trip) and not only received a sundae on the house and a bag full of Ghirardelli chocolate to take home, but I was given a coupon to use for a return visit. I used that coupon while I was still out in Hollywood.

This DIY version of the Frozen-inspired is my creation and not a recipe from Ghirardelli, but instead is based on my experience devouring their sundae in California. All thoughts, images, and “recipe” are my own.

This post is already far from being Wordless, but I think you’ll forgive me.

When I was on the Disney Frozen press trip last week, our group of 27 met at the brand new Ghirardelli Soda Shop for dessert. If you’ve ever imagined eating an ice cream sundae surrounded by chocolate on all sides, as well as Disney everywhere you look….let’s just say that it was spectacular.

The classic sundae that they served us that night was so scrumptious that a few of us who had later flights on Wednesday decided to make a return visit. We HAD TO use our coupons since none of us have a Ghirardelli Soda Shop near home! And since we noticed that Ghirardelli was featuring a FROZEN-inspired sundae, we figured that we owed it to the rest of the group and all of our readers to try it out. All in the name of research, of course.

Monday’s Sundae:

Wednesday’s Sundae:

I posted pictures on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter of the Frozen-inspired sundae I ate with friends at Ghirardelli and had enough people tweet and message me about the sundae that I decided that I needed to share how to make a Frozen Marshmallow S’mores Sundae at home. It’s so easy to make, and the simple list of ingredients is so delicious that it is sure to be a hit.

I was particularly surprised at how good the marshmallows tasted with ice cream and whipped cream and chocolate fudge.

5.0 from 1 reviews

FROZEN Marshmallow S'mores Sundae

Author: Better in Bulk

Ingredients

Vanilla ice cream
Hot fudge
Mini marshmallows
Graham crackers
Whipped cream

Instructions

Scoop one large or two small scoops of ice cream into a dish or glass.
Spoon 2-3 spoonfulls of hot fudge topping over the ice cream (to make a pretty presentation, place the hot fudge near the edge of the glass).
Fill the glass to the top with whipped cream.
Sprinkle with broken pieces and crumbs of about half a graham cracker and 6-10 mini marshmallows.
Dig in!

Blogger-tested. Olaf-approved!

Disney Studios Magic! #WW

Lolli — Tue, 19 Nov 2013 22:51:54 +0000

I have to get ready for the red carpet premiere of Disney’s Frozen in a few minutes, so I’m going to be more wordless than usual today. I’m having a blast here in LA with all things Disney! More coming soon, I promise!

Hiking Sugarloaf Mountain #WW

Lolli — Tue, 12 Nov 2013 23:53:10 +0000

After a late morning photo shoot this Saturday, my 10 year old, Reese, and I hiked about 7 miles up and down Sugarloaf Mountain. It was a gorgeous day for some mountain hiking (even if the mountains out here are hills back home in California!).