Not your average party...the Divorce Party

Divorce Party

I'm in NO WAY celebrating divorce. Personally, I have been happily married for well over 2 decades. However, I acknowledge that in some relationships divorce is the best solution for everyone involved.

I recently decided to throw a divorce party for a friend; not to trash her ex or focus on the past, but to help her transition into her new life and to celebrate her independence. Her friends all wanted to show their love and support, knowing that this was a difficult period in her life.

We didn't give her wedding shower-type gifts. Having been separated for more than a year she had already replaced the items she'd left with her ex - wine glasses, toaster oven, etc.

No, we did not give her tacky or trashy gifts - although a few gag gifts were included in the fun. I gave her a copy of The Paperbag Princess, a children's book with a very strong female protagonist. In the story "a prince is kidnapped by a dangerous dragon, and the dragon's breath burns up all the clothes in the palace. The princess who loves the prince can only find a paper bag to wear when she goes to rescue her love. Cleverly tricking the dragon, she enters the cave where the prince, still beautifully dressed, is held captive. Is true love rewarded? No! He at once complains she's "a disaster" badly dressed, dirty and all messed up. She replies that he is a fine and handsome prince--but completely useless. "And, in the end, they didn't marry." I think that marriage is wonderful - but it isn't always the happy ending. The story always continues...

Decorations weren't black or maudlin. There were no voodoo dolls. This wasn't a party about burying the past, but about embracing the future. We used silly cocktail napkins with phrases like "let's party - the prince can wait" and I Dream of Jeannie themed "I don't do the master thing any more".

We served plenty of wine and a cake with the words "Just Divorced" (chocolate, naturally).  The point we wanted to make is that we all supported her as she moved forward.  She had fun and hopefully it helped during a rough time.

This may have prove that I will use any excuse to throw a party...

Running with the Bulls....a no Bull Birthday Party

Spanish Theme Party

It appears that general consensus is that I'm insane to encourage Kevin's desire to run with the bulls in Pamplona this summer. NO, I am not looking for a quick windfall from his life insurance. Quite the opposite, I know that he's in excellent shape and can outrun a dozen bulls and thousands of crazed tourists.

In honor of this plan I created a special Spanish celebration for his birthday this year. Gifts included a leather wine bota from Spain and a copy of a poster from the 1939 Pamplona Encierro. The feast ended up spread over two days because I planned too much food for two people. (The girls opted for pizza). Night one was a  traditional lamb stew from the Navarre region of Spain served with yellow rice.  The next night we had a variety of  tapas and Spanish wines. I bought the wines at Whole Foods for less than $10 a bottle. The Protocolo was on sale for $5.99!  I'm sure they might have cost less elsewhere, but I was there picking up the rest of the exotic ingredients. We didn't drink 2 full botttles of wine, but I needed both red and white for the stew. Follow the links to read reviews of each.

Tapas Menu

• Manchego Cheese & bread

• Iberian Acorn ham and melon

• Marcona almonds, olives & marinated artichokes

• Spanish omelet & more bread

• Protocolo Vino de la tierra de castillo 2009 (red)

• Vega Sindoa 2010 (white blend)

Kevin asked for one of his favorite desserts, Individual Pear Gingerbreads. A dessert he claims "has grown near-mythic" in his memory. Not too much pressure there! Unfortunately he's been on a healthy eating kick for 5 years and anything that contains 1 1/2 sticks of butter hasn't been in my recent repertoire. I couldn't find my original recipe so I had to improvise based on my memories and some on-line recipes.

Upside-Down Individual Pear Gingerbread Recipe

1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon salt
3-4 Tablespoons crystallized ginger, minced
1 cup molasses (preferably mild)
1 cup boiling water
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 large egg, lightly beaten
2-3 firm pears, diced

Melt 1/2 stick of butter and 3/4 cup of packed brown sugar together. Pour into 6 individual ramekins. Preheat oven to 350°F.

Sift together flour, baking soda, ginger and salt in a bowl. Whisk molasses and boiling water in another small bowl. Next, beat remaining stick of butter, 1/2 cup of packed brown sugar and egg until creamy. Combine with flour mixture and molasses. Stir in diced pears and candied ginger.

Pour batter over butter/sugar mixture in ramekins. Bake 20-30 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool slightly. Invert ramekin onto a plate to serve. Garnish with whipped cream and more crystallized ginger.

It's a little risky cooking food you've never eaten, but both of these dishes tasted delicious. I can't, however, vouch for their authenticity.

Spanish Omelet Recipe

• 1/2 pint of olive oil
• 5 medium potatoes, peeled & sliced
• 1/2 yellow onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 5 eggs
• Salt

Heat the olive oil in a nonstick skillet and add the potato slices. Cook, turning occasionally, over medium heat for 5 minutes. Add the onions and garlic and cook until the potatoes are tender. Drain, leaving about 3 tablespoons of oil in the skillet.

Whisk the eggs with a pinch of salt. Add the potatoes, and stir to coat with the egg. Add the egg-coated potatoes to the hot oil in the skillet, spreading them evenly to cover the base of the skillet. Lower the heat to medium and continue to cook, until mixture is set. Don't stir!

Use a plate to cover the skillet and invert the omelet on to the plate Slide the omelet back into the skillet on its uncooked side. Cook until completely set. Allow the omelet to cool, and then cut it into wedges.

Potatoes,onions and garlic cooking for the Spanish Omelet

 "A San Fermín pedimos, por ser nuestro patrón, nos guíe en el encierro dándonos su bendición"

Spanish Lamb Stew Recipe

1 tablespoon EVOO
2-3 pounds lamb shoulder (diced)
1 cup onions (diced)
4 garlic cloves (minced)
4 ounces Serrano ham or Prosciutto if you can't find the ham (sliced)
1 cup fire roasted red peppers (chopped)
1 cup dry sherry
1 cup red wine or ruby port wine
1 cup dry white wine
1 10-ounce can whole tomatoes
1 tablespoon Spanish Paprika, preferably picante or agridulce
1-2 cups cooked white beans, rinsed and drained if canned
1 bay leaf
2 sprigs rosemary

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan. Add the diced lamb and brown it on all sides. Remove the lamb from the pan and set aside. Add the onions, garlic, and ham. Cook until the onions and garlic are soft. Stir occasionally to prevent sticking. Add the peppers. Deglaze the pan by adding the sherry and wines. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer the liquid until it is reduced by half. Put the lamb shoulder into the pan. Add canned tomatoes, Spanish Paprika, bay leaf, and rosemary. Simmer for three hours. Add beans during the last 10 minutes until just heated through.

The Lamb Stew served with yellow rice

Children's Mardi Gras Parade & Party

Years ago when we lived in New England and didn't have any kids I hosted a Mardi Gras party. It was very unusual in cold New England. I ordered beads and doubloons from New Orleans. I even had a King Cake Fed Exed to our house on the day of the party. We wore costumes, drank highly alcoholic hurricanes and danced.

Last year I brought back our Mardi Gras party, carefully converted for kids. No hurricanes, but we kept the beads and dancing. I made King Cakes since I was dealing with the ubiquitous egg allergy. Everyone had a great time despite a bit of rain.

We had the kids come in their leftover Halloween costumes, with bikes and scooters. We had supplies for anyone who wanted to add decorations - balloons, streamers, feathers, etc. Then the kids all paraded around our neighborhood. It worked really well for us because we could drive Amanda in the golf cart.

This year Mardi Gras is early (February 21, 2012) and I'm tempting fate by having our party in the park. For me that means no cleaning! And, unfortunately, no golf cart for Amanda so we'll be decorating her wheelchair. For my guests that may mean colder weather and nowhere to warm up. We'll see how it goes.

The party was more elaborate last year. We had a craft - decorate your own Mardi Gras mask or crown  - and a pinata. In addition to the King Cakes I made a vegetarian Jambalaya. We also gave everyone strands of beads from Dollar Tree (4 for $1).

This year I'm hoping that the playground equipment will provide enough entertainment so I won't need a craft. I'm also making it potluck so there is very little cooking involved. I've offered to provide "beads and beverages." Because I have streamers and other decorations left over from last year I estimate that I can keep the budget to about $30 - less than $1 per person!

Despite what "New Orleanians" may think, King Cake is really just a big cinnamon roll when you read the recipe. This one comes together very quickly. It is very moist, egg free and - best part for me- requires no yeast. For some reason yeast breads make me nervous.

NO EGG CINNAMON ROLL KING CAKE RECIPE

3/4 cup cottage cheese
1/3 cup buttermilk (or regular milk with 1 Tbsp vinegar or lemon juice to total 1/3 cup)
1/4 cup sugar 
4 Tbs. butter, melted
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups flour; more for rolling
1 Tbs. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. baking soda

For the filling:

1-1/2 Tbs. unsalted butter, melted
2/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1-1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

For the glaze:

2/3 cup confectioners' sugar
2 to 3 Tbs. milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract

________________________________________
eat the oven to 400°F. Grease a cooking sheet.

Combine the cottage cheese, buttermilk, sugar, melted butter, and vanilla. Add the flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda and mix until the dough clumps together. The dough will be soft and moist.

Scrape the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead it with floured hands 4 or 5 times until smooth. With a rolling pin, roll the dough into a 12x15-inch rectangle.

Brush the dough with the melted butter, leaving a narrow border unbuttered around the edges. In a medium bowl, combine the brown sugar & cinnamon. Sprinkle the mixture over the buttered area of the dough and pat gently into the surface.
 Starting at a long edge, roll up the dough jelly-roll style. Pinch the seam to seal, and leave the ends open. Bend into a ring

Bake until golden brown and firm to the touch, 20 to 28 minutes. Set the pan on a wire rack to cool for 5 minutes.

In a small bowl, mix the confectioners’ sugar, 2 Tbs. milk, and vanilla to make a smooth glaze. It should have a thick but pourable consistency, so add up to 1 Tbs. more milk if necessary. Drizzle and sprinkle with yellow, green & purple colored sugars.

Valentine's Day Child's Tea Party

Valentine's Day Child's Tea Party

In 2 weeks I'll be hosting my first tea party - for 6 little girls. It was Danielle's idea. It's the first "girly" thing she's ever wanted to do and I am secretly thrilled. I truly want her to be an independent, confident, physically active child. As a result I've made sure that she plays with boys as well as girls, that she can fish, climb trees and build a bird house. I've tried to create a balance with baking and art, but we are not girly girls in this house.

As an impromptu party I really want to keep the plan simple and the budget low. I'm going to have the girls play dress up with Danielle's trunk of dress up clothes (possibly removing the miner's helmet, firefighter uniform and chicken suit first). I found 2 Easter bonnets at Dollar Tree and added some flowers and feathers that we had on hand. If I had found 6 hats I would have used them as a party craft for the girls. I ran past Goodwill and found 3 more hats and several fluffy scarves. I washed the scarves and stuck the hats in a hot dryer for 1/2 an hour to clean them. Total cost for activities $14.

If dress up doesn't occupy enough time I'll have the girls play traditional kids party games: duck, duck goose, musical chairs and clothes pin drop. Maybe we'll sing "I'm A Little Teapot"...

We'll decorate with things we have on hand - pink and white crepe paper streamers, some paper lanterns and table cloths from Dollar Tree and home made heart doilies (instructions below.) I'm looking forward to decorating the table. My china is a modern black and white pattern, but I think I can make it work with enough pink and red paper in the mix.

The Menu (my favorite part!)

• Tea for grown ups and brave little girls & Punch for the less adventurous
• Tiny PB&J Sandwiches, edges dusted with pink sugar
• Fairy Bread (Graham crackers with strawberry cream cheese and sprinkles)
• Chicken Salad with red curry paste sprinkled with almonds on Carr's water crackers
• Mini Egg Free Chocolate Cupcakes
• Egg Free Shortbread cookies with jam

Egg Free Shortbread Thumbprint Cookie recipe
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/3 cup sifted plus 3 tablespoons confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
Strawberry, raspberry or cherry jam

Beat the butter on medium-low speed until smooth, add sugar and vanilla. Sift together flour and salt. Gradually beat into butter mixture on low. Transfer dough onto a piece of plastic. Pat into 8-inch disk. Wrap with plastic; chill 1 hour.
Heat oven to 275 degrees. On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to 1/4 inch thick; cut into 1-to-2 1/2-inch rounds. Reroll until all dough is used. Press each round with your thumb and add a tiny dollop of jam. Chill 15 minutes before baking. Bake 25 to 30 minutes until firm but not brown; let cool. Cookies can be made 2 to 3 days ahead, and stored in an airtight container.

Heart Doilies How-To
This is not as hard as it sounds! Danielle can do it (as long as I help a little...) Once you learn the basic folding technique you can also use it to make lovely six pointed snowflakes. We used snowman napkins for our practice pieces since we had them on hand. I really liked the way they turned out.
1. Position a prefolded square paper napkin so that the closed corner faces you.

2. Fold right corner toward left corner and flatten, forming a triangle.

3. Fold left corner toward triangle's longest side and flatten, forming a narrower triangle.

4. Using scissors, cut a convex arc from triangle to create top of half a heart.

5. Cut off bottom of triangle from left to right to create lower heart half, leaving at least 1/4 inch intact on right edge. The more you cut at this point the more distinct your individual hearts will be. (Left side of triangle will be center of a heart.) Unfold.

6. Repeat with napkins in several colors, varying position of cuts to create doilies in different sizes.

Egg Free Mini Chocolate Cupcakes
aka "Crazy Mixed-Up Cake"
I've posted egg free cupcakes recipes before. This is our favorite easy cake recipe. It can be mixed in one pan and baked as a snack cake if you'd like. It's a great recipe for kids to start baking because its very simple. It came from a cookbook my grandmother gave me when I was first married, Reader's Digest Down Home Cooking.

 1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup cocoa powder, sifted
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 Tablespoon white vinegar
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup low-fat milk

Preheat oven to 350. Grease & flour pan or use cupcake liners.
Sift together dry ingredients (you can stir them in the pan if you are using an 8-inch square pan).
Pour in all of the wet ingredients and mix with a fork.
Bake mini cupcakes 10-12 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. bake an 8x8 pan for 28-30 minutes. I typically frost the cupcakes with a simple chocolate butter cream frosting.

Tradition! Our Favorite Family Christmas Cookies

Neither my mother nor my grandmother liked to bake. I laugh every time someone tells me what wonderful baker my mother was. I know full well that she made Pillsbury Slice & Bake cookies, Betty Crocker brownies, Dromedary gingerbread and Jello Instant Cheesecake. I believe that was her entire repertoire. It all came from a box - except the cookies which were refrigerated. My mother said that she hated the tedious "plop plop plop" of making cookies. The only exception was the Christmas cookies that both my mother and her mother made from scratch every year.

They always made Norwegian Butter cookies. I have no idea why - we aren't of Norwegian descent. The recipe came from the Fanny Farmer cookbook. I still have the annotated copy that my grandmother gave me for my 16th birthday. She doubled the recipe, divide the dough into thirds and dyed it red and green. She then used a cookie press to create white camels, green Christmas trees and red stars. I still have her vintage cookie press, but its really hard to use. No wonder she only baked once a year!

My mother also doubled the recipe, but avoided the difficult cookie press. She refrigerated the dough and bravely rolled it out so we could make cookie cutter cookies. It's a very fragile shortbread-like dough and did not hold up well to rolling and cutting.

I now make the same recipe and refrigerate it. I then cut it into rounds and bake (after all I grew up on Slice & Bakes!) It is excellent as a thumbprint cookie dough, rolled in chopped nuts with a dollop of strawberry or raspberry jam. My kids don't like nuts so I just bake it in circles.

Oddly, the recipe calls for two cooked egg yolks. Family tradition requires turning the leftover egg whites into cornflake macaroons. This year I've made another minor break with tradition. I didn't have any cornflakes so instead I made meringues. It took 20 minutes to get nice firm peaks. I worried that I might burn out the motor of my old Sunbeam stand mixer, but it came through.  I made the meringues first and while they were sitting in the oven I made the butter cookie dough. I refrigerated it until the meringues were done and then baked the second set of cookies.

Norwegian Christmas Cookies

• 1/2 cup butter
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

Separate the eggs and hard cook the yolks.

Cream the butter and hard cooked egg yolks. Beat in the sugar and add the flour vanilla extract. Mix thoroughly. Put through a cookie press or arrange by teaspoonfuls on ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake 10 to 12 minutes, or until lightly browned. I iced mine with a little powdered sugar and a dash of almond extract diluted with 2% milk. I added food color remembering my Grandma's colorful cookies.

Meringue “Forgotten Kisses” cookies

• 2 large egg whites, at room temperature
• 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 2/3 cup superfine granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips or finely chopped semisweet chocolate

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat egg whites until foamy. Add the cream of tartar and beat until fluffy but not at all dry. (Be careful not to over beat.) Add the sugar gradually, about 3 tablespoons at a time. When 1/2 of the sugar has been added, add the vanilla extract. Continue beating and adding remaining sugar in batches, until all of the sugar is dissolved and the meringue is very shiny and tight. Gently fold in the chocolate chips and chopped nuts. Working one teaspoon at a time, push a teaspoonful of meringue from the tip of 1 teaspoon with the back of another teaspoon onto the lined baking sheets, leaving 1-inch of space between cookies. Place baking sheets in the preheated oven and turn the oven off. Leave the cookies (undisturbed) in the oven for at least 2 hours and up to overnight, or until cookies are crisp and dry.

Per Meringue Cookie: (48); Calories: 44; Total Fat: 2.5 grams; Saturated Fat:0.5 grams; Protein: 1 gram; Total carbohydrates: 5 grams; Sugar: 5 grams; Fiber: 0 grams; Cholesterol: 0 milligrams; Sodium: 3 milligrams

We baked today!

Most kids love to cook. Its a way to teach fractions (1/2 cup), simple math, textures, colors - and you get to eat your results! If you don't mind a mess even little kids can pour, measure, stir, sift and scrape the bowl. Instant pudding is a good low risk way to start. Danielle has been cooking for years. She can make crepes, brownies, pies, macaroni & cheese and lemonade. Amanda enjoys stirring or watching the mixer when we use it.

First we made a 1 egg cake - without a mixer so it came out a bit flat. We accidentally used two 9" pans, instead of 8" pans. Amazingly, it still was spongy & light  - and delicious!

It's a simple, basic recipe that only requires ingredients most people have around the house. You can use any flavoring if you don't have vanilla (almond, orange, lemon...)

ONE EGG CAKE RECIPE

• 1 3/4 cups flour
• 1 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup softened butter
• 1 cup milk
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

  

  The 1 egg cakes

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Sift together dry ingredients. Combine with wet ingredients. Pour into two greased 8" cake pans. Bake for about 25 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Next we made a low fat banana cake. If you cut it into 9 pieces it only has 217 calories a slice. It came out perfectly!


LOWFAT BANANA CAKE RECIPE

• 1 3/4 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 2 ripe bananas, mashed
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/4 cup canola oil or applesauce
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Low fat banana cake

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Sift together dry ingredients. Combine with wet ingredients. Pour into a greased 9x9" pan. Bake for about 28 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. 

This is what you get when you let two four years olds decorate a cake!

Candy Buffet on a $50 Budget

I decided to create a rainbow candy buffet for an upcoming midsummer party. Despite being called crazy by a few friends, creating a candy buffet was fun. One friend actually understood my silly obsession with this project. As she said,"You have a goal, a timeline and a budget - its like being back at work!" The things a stay-at-home Mom will do to keep her mind active...

You can buy everything you need at Party City in the Wedding Section, but costs add up quickly. Candy runs about $6.00 for a ½ pound bag. Containers start at $3.00 and go up to $20.00. To my amazement you can even hire a Candy Caterer to create a buffet for you. I have a self-imposed budget of $50.00. That seems like a lot for candy. However, I'm considering it my main  decoration and as well as the party food.  I hope that there will be some left for favors for the kids.  

There are great candies online, but since you pay by weight, shipping can easily add 50% to your candy total. I realized that online candy costs about $15-$20/pound when you add shipping. Online sites recommend at least ½ pound of candy per person! I guess that’s if you’re not serving them anything else. We had 24 guests, but I just couldn’t imagine buying 12 pounds of candy at those prices ($180.00 - $240.00).

 

I bought most of the candy at the Dollar Store. I even got some cute glass containers there. I also scrounged the grocery store, WalMart and Target for the colors I needed. Our local Target has a good selection of bulk candy including jellybeans sorted by color, at $6.00/pound. I combined individually wrapped items like lollipops and with unwrapped candies like gummies, candy corn, gumballs etc.

I needed the six colors of the rainbow for my buffet. I didn’t realize that blue and green candies would be hard to find.  I had to buy light blue Sixlets (chocolates) at Party City at $5.99 for an 8 ounce bag. The green came from Mint 3 Musketeer minis.  If I do this again I will pick a single color as my theme. The are a lot of red candies (Twizzlers, Clark bars, Fireballs, etc.) or orange (Reeses Peanut butter cups, Orange Slices, Candy Corn, etc.) You can keep candy for 6 months so you can stock up during a holiday if you plan ahead.

The next trick was finding the right size container to fit the various candies without the containers looking empty. I discovered that if you chose large containers you’ll have to buy A LOT of candy. For a visual reference a typical 8 ounce glass holds a 1/2 pound of most candies. Since mine was a small buffet I was able to use kitchen glasses, bowls, martini glasses and clean vases & votive candle holders.

Most sites recommend that you use clear containers so guests can see the candy. That’s great if you have a lot of money to spend on the candy. I didn’t so I got much of my color from the actual containers, as you can see. I used a mix of glass and plastic containers.

Being compulsive about this stuff, I did a trial run before the party - okay, two test runs. I filled the containers & played around with the arrangement. I realized that because it was a small buffet I needed to add height to create impact. I made a lollipop display by pushing the sticks into floral foam in a vase. I covered the foam with the paper crinkles used in gift baskets. I stuffed a clear vase with colored tissue. I stuck books under the table cloth to raise some of the containers.

You can also use anything for color accents.  You could use stuffed animals or toys for a kids’ party. For a SpongeBob party you could go with all yellow candies and scatter toys on the table.

Next I had to address the question of what guests should put the candy in. I had twelve roughly 8 ounce containers of candy. If I gave each guest a 6 ounce plastic wine glass, I wouldn't have enough for everyone. I had to add some inexpensive bulk items like Tootsie Pops, gumballs and pixie sticks (added another $4 to the total). I set out spoons and a gravy ladle to scoop unwrapped candies. I picked up small white wedding favor boxes to use as goody bags for the kidsif there are any leftovers.

To continue the rainbow theme I used solid color paper lanterns from Target that I already had on hand for decorations. My grand total came in just over $40.  That's about $1.70 per person. Not bad ~ especially since I had so much fun putting it together. Compared to the last party we had where I ordered 6 pizzas at $15 each it was really a good deal.  Now, if only the other Moms don't kill me for sending their kids home on a sugar high!