Remember me?

Posted on September 17, 2014 by themercadoproject

Hello everybody!

Remember me?

Probably not, but that’s okay because it’s my fault.

Let me re-introduce myself. I’m Angelica and I hope you guys are doing well.

A lot has happened since my last post, which was back in April of this year.

Here’s the rundown:

1. My sister and her fiancé announced they were expecting their first child!!!

Congrats Dave and Monchie!!

2. My youngest daughter turned 4 years old and we had a party at the bowling alley! The theme was Peppa Pig and my husband made her TWO cakes! Yes, my hubby made those cakes you see below!

Two Peppa Pig cakes

3. My daughter received a certificate in her school for writing an essay on the most special woman in her life. She chose to write about her Grandma Rose (my mom, Rosa).

The essay read: A remarkable woman in my life is my Grandma Rose. She’s a very brave and strong woman. She became ill a few years ago and isn’t able to walk without her crutches, but she recently surprised us by walking without them by using her special brace on her right leg. This was very exciting for me. I held her hand and we walked together. It’s a memory that we now share.

(That’s a black and white copy of the original above. My daughter drew the picture and asked my mom if she could send her a picture of her wearing the brace so she could draw it. My daughter gave my mom the original for Mother’s Day.)

4. My oldest daughter turned 7 years old and we had another party at the same bowling alley! The theme was the Minions from the movie, “Despicable Me” and this time around the cake was store bought (yeah, we got lazy, but the cake was still yummy).

The birthday girl and her Minion cake!

5. My daughter successfully completed the first grade!

Summer vacation begins!

6. We went to see the New York Yankees play against the Toronto Blue Jays!

My youngest strikes up the funniest poses! 🙂

7. We went on vacation for a week with family to a Pocono resort, The Villas at Tree Tops. We had a lot of fun and great memories were created.

8. Final days of the summer were spent going to the library and spending time with family, then it was back to school!

My oldest entered the second grade and I’m keeping my youngest with me at home, even though she can enter Pre-K, but I’ll rather have that time teaching her myself and having fun together before she officially goes off to school next year.

So that’s the recap and there are so many things in the horizon, for example, we’re preparing to move (yikes, more on that later on), a Halloween themed baby shower as well as a destination wedding next year in beautiful Puerto Rico. Oh boy! or girl…it’s a surprise, due in November. We can’t wait and I hope to be a better blogger!

Take good care all.

Until next time…

It’s that time of the year…let’s dye some eggs!

Posted on April 16, 2014 by themercadoproject

Hello everybody!

I hope you guys are well.

Easter’s fast approaching and the dyeing of the eggs has come upon us. While my girls were being distracted/entertained by the television, I quickly set up everything we needed in the kitchen.

I got the PAAS Egg Decorating kit in Marble Magic. This kit included 16 egg stands, 6 dye tablets, 2 egg dippers, 2 packets of gloss and 1 polishing fabric. I also got the Color Cups and that came with 5 dye tablets, 1 egg dipper, and a magic crayon.

Instead of mixing the tablets with just water, I added a tablespoon of vinegar to half a cup of water so the eggs would dye brighter in color. I also taped down a small, white recycle garbage bag on my girls picnic table so clean up would be easier and there would be no staining on the table.

Even though my little one was not feeling well, she still had fun, as well as my oldest. The toothless smile says it all. 🙂

In order to get the marble effect you had to add a tablespoon of oil to the color mixture. We also used the magic crayon to make designs before dunking the eggs in. Whatever was marked with the crayon, didn’t dye with color (my youngest drew lines on the purple egg while my oldest drew circles on the pink egg).

We used the gloss and fabric to get the glossy effect.

My oldest daughter’s favorite egg is the very first one: the purple and aqua blue marbled egg

Egg dyeing mission for 2014: Successful

Next mission: Filling up plastic eggs for the Easter egg hunt

Take good care all.

Until next time…

Adieu March

Posted on March 31, 2014 by themercadoproject

Hello everybody!

I hope you guys are well.

Before we bid adieu to the month of March I wanted to share some pics with you as well as an update on my daughter’s speech therapy.

The month started with my family celebrating my mother’s 62nd BIRTHDAY! It’s so wonderful to celebrate her birthday.

Then on St. Patrick’s Day, I surprised my daughters with a green breakfast:

GREEN PANCAKES WITH SPRINKLES

I just used a little food coloring, but totally forgot that the butter was going to brown up the pancakes…oh well, the girls still loved eating green pancakes for St. Patrick’s Day!

We got our green on…say cheese!

I made several happy, yummy faces throughout the month. Here are a few:

Made this mini bagel happy face for my youngest daughter one day and I thought the blueberry smile was genius on my part, but then she requested that smile to be turned upside down. She actually said, “No, I want it to be sad.”

“Okayyyy??”

Whatever, she still ate it happily…she can be a conundrum sometimes.

Then on another day she asked me for a one-eyed happy face. Okay, here’s happy cyclops.

It’s all about improvising and having fun. She loved this silly face.

As for my ongoing quest to get my oldest daughter speech therapy in her school, it has come to a complete halt. Why? Well, I decided to stop wasting time with people who keep giving me the run around or pretend not to know what my case is about. The straw that broke the camel’s back was when, let’s call her an administrator, said to me over the phone, “My hands are tied.” She said it nonchalantly and yes, I could be wrong. Maybe her hands are tied and she simply can’t help me, but at that moment, I lost it. I got emotional, which I hated, but I needed her to know, no scratch that, I needed her to fully feel and understand that all I was asking for was a little help. After that phone call was a bust, I continued my search online and finally found a great website, www.mommyspeechtherapy.com, that offers tips and ideas on how you can help your child with their speech including printables and an app (articulation station), which I got for my ipad. We also practice enunciating our words at home and my husband makes up tongue twisters with the specific letters that our daughter has trouble pronouncing. The tongue twisters are very helpful and we make it fun by saying silly phrases. So far that’s what we’re doing and we’re going to continue to research and look into other ideas and I’ll keep you updated.

We ended the month celebrating my father’s 62nd BIRTHDAY and were even given a surprise, but more on that later on! 🙂 Again, it’s simply wonderful celebrating his birthday as well.

So it is with a fond farewell to the month of March.

I can’t wait to share what comes next: april fools day, my youngest daughter’s birthday, spring cleaning, spring break, apartment egg hunting, and Easter.

Get the scrapbook paper and scissors out, Mama needs to make a Peppa Pig birthday banner!

Take good care all.

Until next time…

Butter Scotch candy + Funfetti Cupcakes = Yumminess!

Posted on February 19, 2014 by themercadoproject

Hello everybody!

I hope you guys are well.

I made funfetti cupcakes with butter scotch candy toppers for Valentine’s Day for my family. It’s semi-homemade, of course, but here’s what I did:

Combine ingredients for cake mix and add sprinkles.

While the cupcakes are baking, melt butter scotch candy (found this at AC Moore craft store) in your microwave and fill candy mold. Place into freezer for about ten minutes.

I also melted Dolci Frutta chocolate and placed a dollop on each cupcake, then stuck one of the candies on top and placed into the refrigerator for a few minutes so the chocolate could harden.

My valentine cupcakes, but you can always make these for any day.

Take good care all.

Until next time…

Return of the funny faces

Posted on February 5, 2014 by themercadoproject

Hello everybody!

I hope you guys are well.

The weather outside is horrible so instead of trekking to school I kept my daughter home for today and I’m not even second guessing that decision ’cause we need a break from all this slush outside. Since I had both girls home today, I decided to make funny faces for lunch:

Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, Ritz crackers, banana slices, mini chocolate chips, cherry tomatoes, a cheese stick, and raisins make up these fun faces.

Here’s hoping that the weather clears up soon.

Take good care all.

Until next time…

DIY PERSONAL PIZZAS

Posted on January 22, 2014 by themercadoproject

Hello everybody!

I hope you guys are well.

We had a snowstorm yesterday and today’s temperature outside is 8 degrees. Yup, eight! So, we did the most logical thing and stayed home.

With both my girls running around and enjoying their time together, I decided to make personal pizzas for lunch.

Marinara sauce, wheat flatbread, and shredded mozzarella cheese

That’s all you need for a cheesy pizza.

375 degrees in the oven for 7 – 8 minutes

Bon appétit

Of course, you can always add other stuff.

This was my pizza. I added green pepper, chopped onion flakes, and garlic powder before putting it into the oven.

What do you like on your pizza?

Take good care all.

Until next time…

Building our first Gingerbread House

Posted on December 12, 2013 by themercadoproject

Hello everybody!

I hope you guys are well.

The holidays are fast approaching and my mind is about to explode. Please SLOW DOWN!! Wishful thinking, I know. Anyway, the other day we went to my mom’s house and I decided to take a gingerbread kit, which I bought at Ikea (http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/90218783/), with us because we’ve never constructed a gingerbread house before and I thought my girls and I would have a lot of fun putting it together with Grandma Rose. That was an understatement because we had a BLAST!

Along with the kit I also bought a bunch of decorating goodies:

Marshmallow fluff

Mini marshmallows

Mike & Ike candy

Fruit Snack Gummies

Twizzlers

Mini M&M’s

Skittles

The laughter was non-stop between my youngest licking her fingers (germs galore, yikes!) and dealing with the stickiness of the marshmallow fluff. We did our very best to stack the house, decorate it, and keep it in tact, but…

…it didn’t work. By the end of the night, one side of the roof was falling off and the fluff was melting causing the candies to fall down with it. Oh well, we still had so much fun building it and then eating it.

Take good care all.

Until next time…

Funny face friday and congrats are in order

Posted on July 26, 2013 by themercadoproject

Hello everybody!

I hope you guys are well.

I made this funny face lunch for my oldest daughter today. It consisted of a mini raspberry muffin/doughnut, two mayo and cheese sandwiches, apple slices (in a bowl to look like a hat), mini marshmallows, mini chocolate chips, a big cherry tomato, and green salad. I wasn’t able to make another one for my youngest because she was resting due to a fever. 😦 Once she woke up I gave her liquids, Cheerios, and apple slices.

I also wanted to say CONGRATULATIONS to my lil’ sis whose been a great supporter of my blog (reading and liking my post entries). She was promoted today to Detective in the NYPD!

We’re very proud of you Detective!

Keep shooting for the stars and hitting them hard, but always stay safe!

Take good care all.

Until next time…

Funny face lunch times two

Posted on July 23, 2013 by themercadoproject

Hello everybody!

I hope you guys are well.

You know I love making funny faces in the form of food for my daughter, Olivia.

I made this funny face monster (apple slices, banana, marshmallows, mini chocolate chips, white cheese and mayo sandwiches) for her lunch the other day and made something else for my youngest, Sophia. Well, Miss Sophia was not happy that I didn’t make her a funny face lunch as well and the reason why I didn’t make her one is because she can be picky with her food.

Cut to a few days later and I made these funny face lunches using apple slices, a cherry tomato, banana, marshmallows, mini chocolate chips, a cheese stick, and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Both girls loved seeing these funny faces, but only one of them ate the whole thing up. Take a wild guess who didn’t finish her plate, but it’s ok. She has her days and I will continue to present her with these special lunches until she says enough. Until then, bon appétit

Take good care all.

Until next time…

Mini doughnut pan

Posted on July 19, 2013 by themercadoproject

Hello everybody!

I hope you guys are well.

Here in New York City, we are battling a heat wave. The temperature is above 90 degrees, but the humidity makes it feel like 100 and above. It’s horrible and disgusting. We’re doing our best to entertain ourselves at home with the AC at full blast.

Enter our newest purchase, the Wilton mini doughnut pan, which we got at AC Moore craft store with a 50 percent coupon. My husband fell in love with this pan along with the savings (the current plan is to get a second pan to make it less time consuming). He tried it out first with Jiffy’s chocolate muffin mix, but he forgot to take pictures. When it was my turn, I tried the raspberry muffin mix and it was definitely a learning experience.

I was able to make two batches (24 total). The first batch I put too much batter in the pan so the muffin/doughnuts came out like little bowls (open on one side, which is cool because you can put something inside for example whipped cream and eat/present it like that or just eat it as is). The second batch I put less batter but I still got some that came out like bowls. It’s a trial and error kind of thing. I’m figuring that with more batches I’ll get the right consistency one day. I’m looking forward to making cake doughnuts, that’s next, and of course finding a good doughnut recipe to try. Duh! In the meantime, these muffin doughnuts were delicious and a big hit with my daughters. I also like that they’re small so consumption can be kept under control.

Bon appétit!

Take good care all.

Until next time…

themercadoproject

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Category Archives: Food

Remember me?

It’s that time of the year…let’s dye some eggs!

Adieu March

Butter Scotch candy + Funfetti Cupcakes = Yumminess!

Return of the funny faces

DIY PERSONAL PIZZAS

Building our first Gingerbread House

Funny face friday and congrats are in order

Funny face lunch times two

Mini doughnut pan