新年快樂 Year of the snake / Valentines Day and catching up

I am so far behind on updating this blog it’s just crazy so here’s a catch-up post.

This year we passed on all of the Chinese New Year celebrations and instead, Maisie spent the day doing what she loves best, being upside-down doing gymnastics with one of her besties.  Not a traditional way to celebrate CNY but oh-well, lots of fun for my girl.

We also didn’t do anything special for Valentine’s Day.  Maisie did make a flying butterfly love box for her school party but on the the actual day I dropped Maisie at school at 8:30am, she went home with a friend then straight to her gymnastics practice and by the time that was over and we walked back into the house it was 9PM.  We did exchange cards and Maisie got a jewelry box but that was it.

Of course Maisie has spent lots of time with her favorite people & at her favorite place, with her teammates at the gym.

Last Friday after morning practice we went out for brunch with some of Maisie’s teammates and their siblings.

Sunday we spent the entire day watching the USA Level 7 & 8 girls compete at the Mardi Gras Invitational.  Maisie loved watching and cheering on the girls and sitting with them waiting for awards.

Below are two quick videos from Maisie’s practices.  To see her you’ll need to open the videos up in a full screen and view in HD.  

Maisie practicing cast to handstand on the pit bar.

Maisie practicing back handsprings on the high beam.  She’s in the back, far right corner.

Today I posted a new recipe over on Cook Lisa Cook as it’s my Improv Cooking Challenge reveal day.  This month we were challenged to make anything of our choosing using the ingredients Hearts and Flours.  Thankfully we didn’t need to use actual hearts, we just needed to make something heart shaped or photographed on a heart plate, but we did need to use some sort of flour.  Anyhow, I made some totally delicious and super simple Three Ingredient Fudgy Nutella Brownie Bites.  Click on the link or the picture to be taken to Cook Lisa Cook and the recipe and in less than 15 minutes you too can be enjoying these totally delicious treats.

Other sweet treat recipes posted on Cook Lisa Cook include: Toll House Double Stuff Oreo Brownies, Math Book No Bake Cookies, Piggy-Out Cookies, 24-Layer Crêpe Cake, Spicy Brown Sugar Bacon, Kicked Up Piggy-Out Cookies, Nutella Crêpes, Mango, Lime & Chile Spiced Ice Box Pie, Nutella No Bake Cookies, Welsh Cakes, Lime Jewels, Walnut Roca Squares, Chocolate Chip Gingersnaps, Levain Bakery Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies, Happy 6th Birthday Maisie Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting, Caramel Stuffed Apple Cider Cookies, Thin Mint Irish Coffee, Caramel Apples, Mango Upside Down Cake, Pink Strawberry Cake Balls, Praline Pumpkin Cheesecake, Apple Dumplings, Apple, Cranberry & Rhubarb Crisp, Crunchy Oat, Almond, Cashew & Pebbles Granola Bars, Biscoff Fudge, Oatmeal, Cashew & Chocolate Granola Bars, Glazed Lemon Squares, Maisie “safe” No Bake Cookies, Ponderosa Lemon & Sour Cream Tart, Dark Chocolate Dipped Candied Lemon Peel, Crunchy Fudgy Heart Bites, Double Chocolate Meyer Lemon Mousse Cake, Malted Pretzel Crunch, Apple Pancakes, Health(ier) Peanut Brittle, Skinny Blueberry Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins, Peanut Butter & Jelly Bars, Strawberry Soup, Mango Melon Banana & Chia Smoothie, Dried Cherry Almond Tart, Double Chocolate Mousse Cake, Mini Cheesecake Bites, S’mores Granola Bars, Marshmallow Pops, Crockpot Baked Stuffed Apples, White Chocolate Marshmallow Cranberry Cashew Bark, Sweet Potato Cranberry Nut Cookies, Creamy Mints, Baked Bananas and Lemon Almond Biscotti.

Enjoy!