Saturday, June 28, 2008

Happy Birthday Mom!


Happy Birthday Mom! Hope you had a good one. We love you tons! Thank you for being such a good Mom and Grandma, we couldn't ask for better!

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

TWD: Mixed Berry Cobbler

So I'm missing my picture for my post this week, it was mia when I went to take the picture of this delicious cobbler. We had a family dinner this weekend so I thought it would be a good time to make this and it was. It was so easy and everyone absolutely loved it. Very delicioius recipe...will be repeating for sure.

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Zoo

I finally had a saturday off last weekend so we decided we needed some serious quality family time. We were going to take Matthew to ride the trains in Snoqualmie but since we had Jasons sisters graduation in Tacoma we decided to save gas to stay in the same general area and we went to Point Defiance. We had so much fun. It was great to have some family time away from the house. Matthew loves animals and had fun sharing it with Mommy and Daddy. Pictures to come.

TWD: Better late than never

The choice for this weeks installment of Tuesdays with Dories was Peppermint Cream Puff Ring. As you can see this does not look like a ring. I was excited to make the cream puffs as I never had before and it's somthing my Mom used to make. I went with the puffs instead of the ring out of simplicity sakes, time seemed to run away from me this week. And my peppermint cream had a little accident so I went with whatever instant pudding I had in the cupboard, I know not the same but they still turned out pretty darn good.

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Congratulations Megan!

Way to go Megan! You did it, we are so proud of you and your accomplishments. We are glad we got to share in you joy at your High School graduation! Good luck in all your future endeavors!


Matthew couldn't wait to see Auntie Mae Mae afterwards
The fam afterwards!
While he couldn't wait to see her after 3 hrs of waitin he was done.

Monday, June 9, 2008

Love Bug

Matthew loves to play with the camera so we had our own little photo shoot the other day. He is such a light in my life and knows how to make me smile. I came home from work the other night and Matthew was still up and came and laid on the couch with me and snuggles with me and says "Mommy I'm happy." Does that not melt your heart?

Helper





Ok, so I thought I rotated these pictures but I guess it didn't work as planned and I'm too tired to try to hard to fix it. Matthew had great fun helping Uncle Chance till some land. He had to help out and get in the dirt, could you guess he's a boy?

Tractor "Derthday" Party

While Mattthews bday was last week we had his party on Sunday and it was a blast. We had a bbq and cake and had a blast. Matthew has been anxiously waiting for his tractor party and was very happy for it to come. He had a blast playing with his friends and family. He was very spoiled as usual but can you help it? Thanks to everybody for making great memories with us, we love you all.
Grandmas house all decked out
His tractor cake I made
His tractor cake Unky Chancy made(he had so much fun creating this excavation site.)

I love my clothes Mom, don't you love that smile!

One of his favorite presents(and mine) a bubble blower. Whoever thought about that was a genius.

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

TWD: French Chocolate Brownies


This weeks recipe out of Dories book was French Chocolate Brownies. Having never made brownies from scratch I was a little nervous but these were pretty easy to make. The family loved them, my husband said they had a "smoother chocolate flavor than boxed brownies." Now I can't say I won't ever make boxed brownies again I sure won't shy away from the scratch ones. I didn't use the raisins in mine and they still turned out delish.


French Chocolate Brownies
- makes 16 brownies -Adapted from Baking From My Home to Yours.

Ingredients


1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)

1/3 cup raisins, dark or golden

1 1/2 tablespoons water

1 1/2 tablespoons dark rum

6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

1 1/2 sticks (12 tablespoons; 6 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature and cut into 12 pieces

3 large eggs, at room temperature

1 cup sugar
Getting ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 300°F. Line an 8-inch square baking pan with foil, butter the foil, place the pan on a baking sheet, and set aside.
Whisk together the flour, salt and cinnamon, if you're using it.
Put the raisins in a small saucepan with the water, bring to a boil over medium heat and cook until the water almost evaporates. Add the rum, let it warm for about 30 seconds, turn off the heat, stand back and ignite the rum. Allow the flames to die down, and set the raisins aside until needed.
Put the chocolate in a heatproof bowl and set the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Slowly and gently melt the chocolate, stirring occasionally. Remove the bowl from the saucepan and add the butter, stirring so that it melts. It's important that the chocolate and butter not get very hot. However, if the butter is not melting, you can put the bowl back over the still-hot water for a minute. If you've got a couple of little bits of unmelted butter, leave them—it's better to have a few bits than to overheat the whole. Set the chocolate aside for the moment.
Working with a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the eggs and sugar until they are thick and pale, about 2 minutes. Lower the mixer speed and pour in the chocolate-butter, mixing only until it is incorporated—you'll have a thick, creamy batter. Add the dry ingredients and mix at low speed for about 30 seconds—the dry ingredients won't be completely incorporated and that's fine. Finish folding in the dry ingredients by hand with a rubber spatula, then fold in the raisins along with any liquid remaining in the pan.
Scrape the batter into the pan and bake 50 to 60 minutes, or until the top is dry and crackled and a knife inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and allow the brownies to cool to warm or room temperature.
Carefully lift the brownies out of the pan, using the foil edges as handles, and transfer to a cutting board. With a long-bladed knife, cut the brownies into 16 squares, each roughly 2 inches on a side, taking care not to cut through the foil.
Serving: The brownies are good just warm or at room temperature; they're even fine cold. I like these with a little something on top or alongside—good go-alongs are whipped crème fraiche or whipped cream, ice cream or chocolate sauce or even all three!
Storing: Wrapped well, these can be kept at room temperature for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 2 months.

Sunday, June 1, 2008

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MATTHEW!!!

Happy Birthday Buddy! You are now 3 wow! Heres a quick look back over the last 3 years. I had so much fun looking at all the pictures since you were born. It's probably a good thing I only have a portion of your pictures on this computer or we all would be here all day looking at them:) We love you Matthew have a great "derthday"