Peach's Baby Blessing

We decided to take advantage of our trip for Thanksgiving and bless Peach at a ward in Massachusetts so Jay's family could take part. Jay's mom generously let us have a brunch at her house after and it was SOOO nice to get to talk to some of my friends who live in New England- many of which I haven't seen in years. Thanks to all who came! I was so busy catching up, I forgot to take photos of us together. (sometimes it's probably better to live in the moment anyway, right?) I did manage to get a couple shots of our family though.

Boston Aquarium

The first movie we ever let The Frog watch (all the way through) was Finding Nemo, and ever since, he's loved all ocean life. We saw a lot of really neat things, though I was nursing Peach and walking around for half the time, so I didn't get very many good pictures. It's also pretty dark inside, so that you can see through the glass to see all the animals, so it's not the best place to get good photos, but we got a couple.I think The Frog's favorite things were probably the clown fish (Nemo) and the seals, and maybe the shark. I thought the sea turtles were amazing and I wish I could have taken a better photo of them. One of them was SOOO BIG- probably the size of a small-ish coffee table.
Above is a manta ray.
One of the sea turtles is poking its head out the surface, but it was much cooler to watch them swim from down below.
Of course, an aquarium wouldn't be an aquarium without penguins :)

Thanksgiving 2010

Happy Thanksgiving! This year Jay's parents paid for us to join them for Thanksgiving, which is especially fun because his mom takes this holiday VERY seriously (as most good cooks do...) Jay's older sister brought this AWESOME fruit and veggie "turkey" appetizer.Isn't it so cute?! Jay's other relatives took care of other appetizers, and they looked so beautiful, I had to take a picture.

Here's a glimpse of the spread (pre-food). Once the food was on, I forgot to get the after shot- too distracted with getting The Frog's food prepped and making sure he ate it without making a complete mess. I've found that mealtimes are always the craziest time of day when you have young children.
Because you can't really tell from the above shot, every serving dish has a label so that when food is ready, everyone can help put it into the serving dishes without bothering the master chef.
After our delicious array of desserts, the cousins wanted to try holding baby Peach.


I think she didn't like getting passed around so much.
Peach with her great Auntie P.

Christmas Card Photo Shoot FAIL

This morning was perfectly overcast and not too cold, so I thought I should hurry and try to get some "Christmas card worthy" photographs. It did NOT go so well. These are the best I could get. The rest of them involve a blurry The Frog (with some kind of upset look on his face, or pushing Peach away) or a crying Peach. I guess the cat's out of the bag. My family isn't perfect.

I wonder if this will fit up her nose...

"Mom, just give up already, ok?"

"Ewww, he's BREATHING on me!"

"Moooom, ENOUGH already!"

The Frog: "I'm sorry for whacking you a second ago."

Peach: *silent treatment*

ENOUGH!

Peach "hair" accessories

These are the latest home-made additions:

This one is all felt, made to match a cream velvet dress she wears to church. Turns out, felt stretches after a few wears and I should have put interfacing on the band. (luckily her head grows pretty fast, eh?)
I bought this black headband in a set from Target (I think it looks too wide, and may have to make my own after all...) but the flower is mine on a clip.

Baby Blessing Dress Reveal

I actually finished making this a long time ago, except, I didn't finish the diaper cover because the way the pattern said to make it looked HUGE, so I thought I'd wait until a week before Peach would wear it to finish it. I, of course, altered the pattern a bit and putting ruffles on the bum was a MUST. Here it is!

Fall Leaves

Recipe FAIL, Carmel Apples

It wasn't my fault.

Really.

When you hear the whole story, you will immediately be able to deduce that the mistake was in my trusting a faulty recipe. Allow me to explain...

The tale began innocently. I had a plethora of delicious apples comfortably resting on a blanket of colorful leaves on my back lawn. Meanwhile, a recipe for carmel apples from Cooking Light Magazine comfortably rested on my sparkling, speckled, kitchen counter.

Fate? I think not.

Jay was having friends over for game night and I thought it might be fun to try the new recipe. Having never made carmel before, and certainly not a "healthy" version, I had no idea of the peril involved.

Of course, I had to start them before dinner, so the carmel layer could be done cooling by the time I wanted to experiment with my own additional layers (white chocolate & cinnamon/sugar is my traditional favorite). All was going according to plan, until...

Once all ingredients are mixed together, you are supposed to let the concoction boil for 45 minutes (did you catch that? FORTY-FIVE minutes) until it reaches 235 degrees Fahrenheit. At least, that's what the recipe said.

So, there I was, happily getting my hamburger preparations underway while waiting for my golden bubbly goodness to reach the required temperature. I was just about to throw the burgers on the grill, and I double checked my thermometer rigging to see how much progress we were making.

The temperature read 234.5 degrees.

I probably should have known better, BUT and it had only been boiling for 15 minutes. "Gee," I thought, "that last half a degree must be super tricky, if it's going to take 30 minutes to get there." And outside I go (in the cold) to put the perfectly formed patties on a heated grill. I come right back inside and what's this I smell?

BURNING!

I run to the stove, and notice the temperature is now 244 and my beautiful carmel color is now the color of hopelessness and wasted energy. I frantically take it off the stove and hope that maybe some stirring could fix the problem? Perhaps the new deep color is only on the surface?!

Alas, no.

And I quickly recognized that this sticky concoction was slowly turning into a rock. Terrified of transforming my pan into an oversized paperweight, I rushed to the garbage to dispose of the molten lava. The longer it had to cool, the harder I had to scrape to get it off the pan, off the spatula, off my fingers. Finally, satisfied that I should be able to safely hide the remainder of the evidence down the drain, I squirted some soap in the pan and began filling it with hot water in the sink. Disappointed, I watched the happy frothing rapidly increase and slide down the outside of the pan when it hit me.

THE BURGERS!

I ran outside, hoping to save our dinner, but sadly, all 4 patties had been severely charred.

Emotionally exhausted, psychologically dejected, and totally disheartened, I served the crunchy burgers for dinner anyway. Jay was a trooper and ate it with out grimacing all while convincing me to persevere. He offered to do dishes so I could run to the store and replenish my carmel ingredients.

Round two.

Again, things are going smoothly. Sugar, water, corn syrup, nicely dissolved. Slowly adding the half & half, vanilla and salt. Things appear to be going well.

211 degrees.

This time, I hover.

214 degrees.

I'm a helicopter, waiting, watching for a potential rescue.

212.

Did I just read that right?

211.

WHAT?!!

209.

NOOOOOOOOOO!

I give up.

Apple on a stick? Anyone?

The Cardi Fits!

Remember when I finished knitting a cardigan for Peach? Well, she's big enough to wear it now! And I'm excited to report that it actually fits and looks cute :)Peach is already taking after her older brother and sucks her thumb. (he didn't pick that up until he was about 8 months)
Just cause she's cute...

Daylight Savings

I'm pretty sure whoever came up with daylight savings did it just to torture parents with small children.

Black Flower Clip

I've been meaning to try making one of these flowers ever since I saw how to make them several months ago. You just need fabric with synthetic fibers so it will melt when you burn it. For those interested, the outer circle was 4" in diameter and each of the other circles are 1/2" smaller. The beads are sewn, and those stitches are holding all the layers together. I then hot glued to an alligator clip and secured with a bit more thread. Voila!

A Saturday

I just discovered that, though coloring with Crayons doesn't really attract The Frog, he loves using markers. I left him at the table for one minute and when I came back, he looked like this.
I really wonder what he was doing...

Peach is getting slowly better at lifting her head
And getting her fist to her mouth.
Here's The Frog peeking in at our photo shoot through the back window. I love that shirt because I think it makes him look like a little French painter.

The "Park"

We're trying to make use of warm weather days while they still exist. It's so fun (and at times terrifying) to be able to go to the park (or in this case, the elementary school playground) now that The Frog is brave enough to go down the slides alone.



I think Jay has fun too :)