parenting, making and hot cocoa (in otherwords, a random post)

{parenting}
thank you so much for all the encouragement on micah's photography. i was thinking, you just never know what bend in the road life holds for your children. naturally, as parents you can see many things early on--such as talents and strengths, as well as challenges. sometimes though, you are completely surprised. For instance, when my oldest son was about 15 yrs. old, he took a serious interest in learning to play the piano. and that he did--all we could do was hold onto his coat-tails as he became an incredible and obviously very gifted piano player. he is now focusing on composing, and the results so far are beautiful. we never knew. (although i like to think it was all those hours of classical music i played while he was growing up..it must have helped some, right?)

my boys, 1991. seth, holding nathan and micah on the right. nathan is one of micah's best models!

likewise with micah. when he was around 15 (that seems to be the magic number in our family!) my dad gave him his old video camera. it had the ability to take still photos and micah started experimenting. we quickly saw that he had a great eye, so we flooded him with encouragement and my parents (i'm so very thankful for their generosity) provided him with quality equipment that would do his talent justice. it's very clear to us now that micah has a bright future in the world of photography. we never would have guessed. bends in the road you just don't see coming.

{making}
for christmas, a couple of small gifts--a special box for noah and a crochet hook roll + new hooks for hannah. noah loves to collect little things--just odd ball things that a 5 year old would treasure.

i thought a special box for those things would be right up his alley. the box was very simple. i bought it from michael's in their wood section. the animals on top were already painted and ready to go. first i white-washed the box with a thin coat of watered down acrylic paint. i lined the inside with some felt and hot glued the animals on top. on the underside of the lid there is a painted wooden cloud that says, "noah's special things". that's it. i'm going to remember this the next time i have a small person gift to give. so fast and simple. hannah's hook roll will be paired with some new yarn that i was tempted to keep for myself! (i shall resist though)

{hot cocoa}
i'm putting together a couple sets of mint hot cocoa to give as gifts this year. i've been making this all month and the kids love it. here is a recipe for how we do it...

in an 8 ounce cup add:

1 teaspoon cocoa powder, rounded
2 teaspoons sugar, rounded
1-2 drops peppermint (or mint) extract

fill cup 2/3 full with boiling water. stir well. add a generous splash of half and half, stir. top off with homemade whip cream and crushed peppermints. yuuuum-my!

Comments

[Beth]

I love peppermint hot chocolate! Yum! Thanks for posting your recipe.

[sally]

Oh my! Noah looks just like Micah here. Your boys are so cute...oh gosh, I guess they are "young men" now. Anyways, I think it is so beautiful how their natural talents have been nurtured by you and your hubby. I could only hope to do the same for my boys.

And the hot cocoa looks delicious!

[Stasia]

Lovely post. I want that needle roll! :)

[Natalie]

Another wonderful post. I have every one of those little wooden animals probably because I too have a 5 year old little boy:)! We made them into magnets to hang his artwork on the refrigerator. I'll be printing out this post and filing it under "kid birthday ideas". Thanks!

[Di]

Both my kids are now turning into young adults (14 & 16) and it is magical to see their adult personalities grow and change - continually surprising me. It's a wonderful time and you are obviously enjoying it as much as I am.

[molly]

Toni, I was just looking at micah's pictures. they are amazing! you MUST be so, so proud. How wonderful and exciting it must be to see the people your children grow up to be...
xo.

[Amy]

I so love to hear your seasoned thoughts on parenting. You have such a lovely perspective having older kids, younger kids...... so many kids. I have no idea how you've done it, but it seems you've done it EXTREMELY well.

[blair]

love this so much Toni, I've missed checking in with you while the power was out. And...guess what Emma and her playdate will be having today? Your hot chocolate. Yummy recipe. xo

[Mike]

Great craft/gift ideas. And the hot chocolate sounds REALLY good. Merry Christmas. Oh..and congrats to Micah. He takes some great photographs. Wow!

[Strikkelise]

Wow congratulations to the young photographer!
What a beautiful post. I never knew there was such a thing as crushed peppermint - you learn something every day!

[Alicia A.]

Amazing kids you have there.

Can't wait to see what roads my own kids choose to take. I'm sure it will be a interesting ride no matter...

[Heels]

That's a beautiful picture of your boys and Micah's pics are fantastic.

I love the wooden box gift. Most of our kid gifts come from the craft store and the book store!

[allee]

That sounds wonderful - thanks for the recipe!

[Darren Craddock]

I love the photos of your kids!
The boxes are a great idea.

I grew up where it was cold and snowy so hot cocoa was a real memory maker for me
just wehn I thought I was frozen solid - I could alwasy count on a warm mug of hot chocolate to ease to freeze.

If you are interested I have discovered an all natural organic hot cocoa that contains cordyceps and ganoderma
It's called Cocoa mojo
These chineese herbs boost the immune system so they are great for cold and flu season. COcoa itself is a very healthy food. This hot cocoa makes it easy for me to give the kids herbs with no fuss or complaints!

I mix it with regular milk, coconut milk, soy or even rice milk. It is really rich and creamy and I never feel guilty having a mug ot two. the kids and I Love the coconut.

thanks for the great blog, I love reading about your thoughts on life.
Darren

[Lilith]

Aren't you nervous about Hannah getting close to her 15 ? ;o )
Wall, another question of mine (for a change) : do you really make hot cocoa with... water ? Don't you put milk instead ? I've only had one experience with hot water cocoa but it was infamly insipid compared to a creamy milk chocolate... yummy !