It's Okay to Be Jealous

Don't these cream puffs look amazing? I assure you they were, so go ahead and be jealous… I would be, too, if I were you! ;)

When my sister Sharon was here, she and I were watching a baking show, and in one of the episodes the contestants had to make different kinds of French pastries. One of the things they had to make was a choux tree (pronounced like 'shoe') which is a bunch of different choux pastries (similar to cream puffs) with different types of filling in them).

Choux tree

I asked Sharon if she's ever made cream puffs before, because I thought they looked difficult. She said that she's made them several times, and that they actually aren't that difficult. I've had the little frozen cream puffs that come from the grocery store, but I've never had homemade cream puffs, Sharon said she'd make them for me, so she whipped up a batch on Wednesday afternoon, and I was really excited to try them. They turned out really well and were absolutely delish!

On Wednesday afternoon we had "spa day" and my mom painted the kids fingers and toes. Even Matt, the lone boy, got in on the action. He's three and has five sisters; he would've felt left out otherwise and was pleased with his purple toes!

We watched the Disney Nature movies Chimpanzee and African Cats and the kids loved them. It was especially fun listening to Matt exclaim over the big animals. I'd wanted to see both of these movies when they came out in the theater, but I'm so glad I watched them with the kids; it was priceless this way! :)

Sharon and her family left this morning. We had a wonderful visit together and I'm so glad that they were able to stay so long. It does get crazy when we have a house full of noisy kids, but I love having my nieces/nephew around. It's always sad to see them leave, but fortunately they'll be back in less than five months to spend Christmas with us.