World Traveler

Caleb loved our trip last weekend.

He liked making friends with our airplane neighbors, in fact, the shiny bald head of the man sitting in front of us on the flight home was (unknowingly) reeaaaaalllllyyyy interesting to him.  We were laughing so hard at how hard Caleb was trying to reach out and grab that shiny thing.

He also really liked looking over the back of our seats at the people behind us.  Thankfully everyone around us was really nice, even when he belched a LOUD belch right in their faces.  One of the ladies even tried to give him a sucker (really lady??? sorry but he's only 11 months old, he can't have any candy).

We had lots of beautiful weather, and since Caleb loves being outside, he loved every minute of the festival.  There was a big off road bicycle race going on also, it was cool seeing all the riders in their gear lounging around the square.  There wasn't hardly any food though, or maybe we just never found it.  Lots of neat local crafts though, I got a wooden kitchen spoon whittled out of a piece of local wood, I can't wait to use it.

For some reason, the three of us were never all able to look at the camera at the same time.  We're going to have to practice, because this random picture is the best family picture we got the whole weekend.

And the cutest (to me) and most hilarious (to me) picture of the entire weekend:

Of course I laughed my arse off when I saw him like this, so he kept doing it :)

Weekend getaway in Arizona

Since we had a good excuse, we decided to take a weekend trip to Prescott, Arizona. We had a fun day exploring the town and the weather couldn't have been more perfect. In fact, I was so worried about keeping Caleb's skin protected from the sun that I completely forgot to protect my own. I have a little sunburn on my shoulders to show for it but it was great walking around in the sun with no wind, or thunderstorms, or any of that typical Oklahoma spring weather to hamper our good time.


I'm trying to keep Caleb on Okie time since our trip is so brief, thank goodness for in-room coffee pots. This morning we were up WAY before the free continental breakfast bar was open.
Oh, and I have to brag on Little Man. I couldn't have asked for a better first flight from him. Other than tired arms from holding him for so long, our trip went fantastically! Here's to a return trip that's just as successful!

-- Post From My iPhone

The dogs are SO fired (and a thank you)

Last night I discover that I had left an important item over at my in-law's house.  Being the kind soul he is, my father in law offered to bring it over this morning and leave it in my garage so I'd have it tonight.  Awesome, problem solved.

So this morning as I leave for work, I see said item already in the garage, evidently my father in law had gone to work early.  And not only that but he'd brought in the empty trash can from the curb.  Bonus!  Thank you!

However, we have two big dogs.  They like to bark at pedestrians.  They like to bark at birds in the flower bed.  But this morning?  Yeah, no bark.  No warning an intrudor had breached the perimeter.  Just two dogs crashed out on MY bed, waiting on me to turn the light off so they can go back to sleep for seventeen more hours.

So dogs, here's your warning.  Even though you are totally awesome with Caleb and let him pull your hair and take your toys, you are now on super double secret probation.  You are DOGS!  You are supposed to BARK when someone enters the house!  Next time, you betta represent!

Hands

Seriously, is there anything more precious than baby hands?  I remember holding Caleb's hands in my own when he was a newborn.  They were tiny, fragile, and absolutely perfectly minature recreations of adult hands. (I'm sure that some of you are reading that sentence thinking, "well, duh", but don't underestimate the wonder a new mother feels over learning her new baby). 
Boy have those hands grown in the past eleven months!  I can recognize family features in Caleb's hands.  He has Brent's thumbnails and he has my dad's palms.  It's so blaringly obvious to me that I actually get nostalgic for my dad about it if I think about it too much.  I think God gave me a daily reminder of my dad when He made Caleb's hands, and I'm thankful for that.
Caleb can now use his hands for so much!  He is able to fit blocks together and he is learning to put shapes into his shape-sorter box through the lid.  He has been feeding himself for quite awhile now and loves almost any type of table food.  And as always, he loves to place his pointer finger in his mouth.  You can almost always catch him with it in there, not sucking on it, not really chewing.  Just hanging out with his finger in there. 
Caleb now has a new skill to share...he can pull up not only to his knees, but now to his feet!  He used to only feel comfortable doing this while crawling on me, now he can do it on furniture.  He's still a little wobbly so I haven't gotten a good picture yet (I'm busy watching like a hawk in case he slips), but I can't wait to photograph it!

Strawberry Cake

This afternoon from 1:00 until 3:00 in downtown Medicine Lodge, Kansas, my mom's sorority, Beta Sigma Phi, is hosting a dessert tasting event in at The Leisure Time Center on North Main. Many of the sorority ladies are bringing their favorite homemade desserts to share over good coffee and good conversation.

Tickets to the event are $10 and proceeds benefit The Leisure Time Center and Horizons Mental Health Center Children's Services.

Also, cookbooks containing all of the contributed recipes are available for sale. I've been flipping through it for the past couple days and I can't wait to make several of them myself. Many of the recipes are for yummy sounding, summery desserts, and I can't wait to taste about fifty awesome sugary treats on this fine Sunday afternoon! If you are interested in purchasing a cookbook, please leave a contact and I will give you the information.



One of my mom's food contributions at the tasting is for this awesome strawberry cake. It's a staple dessert in her recipe armory, but this time she baked it in her ribbon shaped cake pan in honor of a dear friend of ours who is currently WINNING her fight against breast cancer! Congrats PS on your awesome test results!

Strawberry Cake

Ingredients

Cake:
1 box white cake mix
1 3 oz box strawberry flavored instant gelatin
10 oz package of frozen strawberries in syrup, thawed and pureed, 1/4 cup reserved
1/2 cup vegetable oil
4 large eggs
1/4 cup water

Frosting:
1/4 cup butter, softened
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1/4 pureed strawberries
1/2 tsp strawberry extract
7 cups confectioners sugar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease and flour two 9 inch round cake pans. Combine the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Add the wet ingredients and mix until smooth. Pour into cake pans and bake 20 minutes or until they test done. Cool in pans for 10-15 minutes then cool completely on a wire rack.
Mix the frosting ingredients until smooth and spread between the cake layers, on top and sides.

-- Post From My iPhone

There's an app for that

Last night I tried out the Blogger feature that allows you to email a post from a phone. However, the picture didn't post correctly which sucked because it was really cute. So, I did a little research today and I discovered 'there's an app for that' so now we're cookin' with gas!


And here's a picture taken last week that I'm posting as a test to see if the BlogPress app really is worth the $2.99 I paid for it. (well, and I'm posting it because it's cute).

-- Post From My iPhone

Hello World!

Caleb wants to say hello to all of you nice interwebzers who still read this sadly neglected little blog.

There is even less cooking going on in the house now than there was in my first trimester. Caleb eats regular baby food, yogurt, chicken nuggets, steamed veggies, Cheerios and bites of whatever else I toss together (which isn't much). But we are having FUN playing and growing and enjoying the spring weather. I apologize that cooking has currently, temporarily, taken a back seat to baby-time. Hopefully any of you still following me are as satisfied by cute baby pictures as you are by recipes!

Sent from my iPhone