Alexander’s birthday

Alexander turned 12. 🤯 

We did 10 days of gifts for him. Some were bigger, some smaller, some for sharing, some just for him:

• 2 DogMan books

• DogMan puzzle

• Variety puzzle book (from Penny press!)

• Chipotle gift card

• Lego kit

• Cyborg robot hand

• New bed sheets

• Flashlight

• His fav potato chips, fav soda, fav candy, some gum, ice cream sandwiches (those were not all the same day!)

As I mentioned before, he designed his cake. He wanted it to be a giant soda can with a little guy on top trying to open it. It did not go well. One thing after another just kept going wrong: it was a long and defeating day for me. There were a few good things about it: the guy on top turned out cute, the logo we came up with was neat, and it tasted great. 😊 

We made a 12-balloon “banner” with photos of Alexander, one for each year, from baby to present day. And it hit me how OLD he looks. Like he doesn’t look like a kid anymore; he looks like a young teenager. You know? Something shifted in his face in the last year or two, and I guess I didn’t really notice since I see him every day!

He’s so smart and diligent and meticulous and interesting and kind. He’s quiet and cool and does his own thing without worrying what anyone else might think or expect. I’m excited to see where life takes him (but not too soon or too quickly!!).

Homemade play dough

Charlie wanted to play with play dough, but all I could find was dried out! So naturally I made some for him. It’s super simple and comes together in about 5 minutes. I used this TikTok post but not everyone has that app, so here’s how I did it:

In a small pot, combine

• 1 cup flour

• 1/3 cup salt

• 2 tsp cream of tartar

• 1 cup water

• 1 tbsp oil

Cook it over medium heat until it forms a ball. It just takes 1-2 minutes. It’s quite warm at this point. I moved it to a bowl so it would cool down a little faster. Then I added a few drops of coloring and used my hands to knead it. It quickly softened and became like play dough. Easy breezy!

Recipes / Food stuff

For my sourdough folks, I’ve started feeding my starter differently, and it’s been great. The starter grows much fuller and the breads have a better crumb! I am in a FB group called Sourdough Geeks where I learned it a while back.

I keep a jar of starter in the fridge, and if it starts getting low, I feed it. When I want to make a loaf, I grab a clean jar and put in 1:2:3 ratio of starter (the one from the fridge!), water, and flour. So I’ll do about 15g starter, 30g water, and 45-50g flour. It’s VERY thick. But somehow it works!

Some recipes from the week:

We picked blueberries and so I made some blueberry goodies!

• lemon blueberry bread

• blueberry jam

• blueberry muffins

Unrelated! I also made these bagels. Perfectly chewy. Do you have a reliable sourdough bagel recipe? I want to try them asap!

Hey, I also have a “channel” on IG - it’s like a big group chat except it seems I’m the only one who can chat? People can reply though, but the replies don’t show up on the main feed. Anyway, you can access it on my IG profile, and just join it. I’ve been putting recipe links there the last few weeks! (NOTE it seems like it’s NOT available in all countries!!)

Father’s Day

Father’s Day is tomorrow here in the states. Since my kids are little, I do a little something for Cam, and then of course I do something for my own dad. Annabelle always makes a card, and Alexander helps me come up with ideas sometimes - he needs some coaching when it comes to holidays. Annabelle loves doing things for people.

Anyway, I got Cam a sampler pack of nuts from nuts.com. I’ve ordered from them several times in the past. He loves snacking, interesting flavors, and he particularly likes mixed nuts or trail mixes, so this will be perfect for him. And for my own dad? He likes the New Orleans Saints, so I got him a custom Saints jersey that has his granddad name on it plus the number of grandkids he has (you know, as the jersey number).

Movies

I think I mentioned one of these last newsletter, but I couldn’t remember. Here are some recent watches (details below them):

That Kevin Bacon one was pretty good, psych thriller/horror! I like Amanda Seyfried. I think I will rewatch Mamma Mia this coming week.

Barbarian was… weird. Bill Skarsgård is fantastic. I really like Justin Long, and though I’ve never seen her before, the main female lead was great too. It’s a disturbing story about someone/something that’s secretly squatting in an AirBnB. That’s as much as I’ll spoil for you, but just know it’s kinda disturbing! (Did you see Justin Long in Tusk? It’s equally disturbing!)

Quiet Place Day One - I liked the first one so much. The second was good but not as good, and this third was third good. (Awful grammar there, yeesh.) Again, I really liked the two leading actors!! I just thought it was a little slow and a teeny bit boring (compared to the first one!).

Twilight, I’ve seen a dozen times in the past. But it’s always good (good in that early-2000s kind of way!). And now I need to watch the rest of the movies: I’m pretty sure I stopped after the second one! Do Bella and Edward get married? Have children? Is it possible to have children once you’re a vampire?

That’s it for this week!

Hope you’re doing alright today, and I’ll see ya next week. If you need anything let me know!

❤️ Bethany

PS Here’s a tiny tip that I recently discovered. I have an iPhone, so this may not work on other phones. When you set a new reminder, you can type out when you want it to go off rather than having to manually adjust the date/time. So like, if you want it to go off “at 9am” just type that, and a little suggestion will pop up at the bottom. Here’s an example below where I wanted a reminder to go off an hour later: