a spoonful of heaven

On Thanksgiving evening, while cruising websites for black Friday bargains, I found a great deal on an ice cream maker.  I ordered it, thinking it may be just the thing for Santa to leave under our tree since we'd talked about getting one last summer, but decided it was too pricey.

Some of the items I ordered from one particular website arrived on our doorstep in just the box/packaging you'd find the item in on a shelf at the store (as in, not in a plain brown shipping box).  Which, I guess is ok, but at Christmas time, it's not ideal to have gifts arrive that in no way have their identity concealed.  Ugh.  For some reason I thought Billy had seen the ice cream maker and sort of dissed it (yep, I just used the word dissed.)  He now claims that is not the case.  Anyway, he saw it in our dump room after Christmas, asked who it was for, and was thrilled when I explained that I ordered it for us him.

Sooooo, fast forward a couple of weeks - and we are in love.  LOVE.   Love this ice cream maker.  Worth every penny.  Home made ice cream is infinitely so much better than the stuff you buy at the store. The only downside is that we now want to make ice cream all. of. the. time.  Whipping cream is becoming one of the "staples" on our grocery list.  You know - bread, eggs, milk, cream.

Our new favorite recipe is for chocolate velvet ice cream. Seriously, this stuff is a spoonful of heaven.  Creamy, chocolate-y, wonderful goodness.  If you have an ice cream maker, run to the store and buy the ingredients.  Actually, the good news is, you probably already have everything on hand (unless you don't consider cream a staple).  After reading the reviews, I did modify the recipe a bit:  I used 2 cups (one carton) cream, and  2/3 cup 2% milk (cutting calories, right?!).  I also used dark chocolate cocoa and it produced a lovely, rich chocolate flavor (that didn't taste like dark chocolate), and omitted the chocolate chips because I wanted a smooth texture - though adding chips or other mix-ins would be yummy (but why mess with perfection?).

Project 365: 7

(Sorry, a food photographer I am not.  And my ice cream was getting melty while I tried to get a good pic).

Yum.

happy feet

Why hello, weekend.  It's sooooo good to see you!  Let's just say that having a full week of school after winter vacation is not a good thing. Whew.  

Of course, not only did we go back to school (which is enough to wear a person who is used to sleeping in out), it was a busy week all-around:  hair appointment, basketball game, dinner with the fam, early morning staff meeting, after school meeting . . . but that's how it always goes.

On busy weeks, by Thursday night I am ready for an evening at home.  It's almost the end of the week, and it's a good TV night (we love The Office, Grey's, and Private Practice at our house). Last night, there were new episodes of Grey's and PP to be watched. (Yay: Holiday repeats are over.  Nay:  The Office was still a repeat, and not only was it a repeat, but the worst episode ever. . . or at least the one in which I am most annoyed with Michael).  

I digress.  It was Thursday.  We were home.  I was comfy and cozy on the recliner with my feet up, watching good TV.  :)

Project 365: 6

getting organized

You may recall that Braden has just a few toys. . .  and after his Christmas loot was added to the collection, things were getting a little out of control in our small house.  Unfortunately, we do not have a toy room/play room, and due to our home's layout, it's not practical to store many toys in B's room - so, that means they are in our living space.

As he gets older, the toys have become more "complicated," involving smaller pieces and parts that get lost in our large toy baskets.  So, in an effort to contain little pieces, I found some canvas bins at Target that fit well on the lower shelves of an existing bookshelf in our family room.  Then we assigned a bin for blocks, Little People (and their ark - sadly the barn doesn't fit in the bin), tractors and farm toys, and cars/trucks.  

I then added little labels (more for Billy and I, than B) to easily identify what goes in each bin.

We'll see how it goes - but so far the bins seem to be working (we can find the parts and pieces to play with), and (ahhhhhh) the clutter is organized.

If anyone has any (inexpensive) genius ideas for tackling the toys, let me know.  We are thinking of investing in an ikea bookshelf with more baskets/bins . . . because it would be nice to actually have room for our my books on the other bookshelf (now my books are stored away in rubbermaids in the crawl space) :(

goodnight, sweetheart

One of my favorite times of day is bedtime, though all too often we're in a hurry for some reason or another and rush through our routine:  bath, jammies, reading, and snuggles. (And all too often my bedtime is much later than I'd like it to be, for no good reason at all!) Tonight I snuck a few shots of my two favorite boys enjoying one of the best parts of the evening: the bedtime story.

Project 365: 5

I'm glad to report that only five days in to Project 365, I really am learning more about our DSLR camera.  I've experimented (just a little bit) with using my new (well, not so new anymore) lens that requires manual focusing, shooting in low light without using a flash, and not using the automatic setting (I currently prefer the aperture setting).  The picture above and picture below were both taken in a very dimly lit room (dark except for a reading lamp) . .  so we're making progress!

Billy took the one below of B and I snuggling a bit before bedtime. Such tired eyes . . .

the look

Lest you think life at our house with a two-year-old is always peachy and full of cuteness, I've captured a new expression of B's.  Apparently while he likes to use the word "no" (a lot lately!), he is not so fond of us using it.  He is old enough to understand when he's done something naughty, and has a look that he gives us when he finds himself in trouble.  

Project 365: 3

Project 365: 4

Thankfully, though little man is starting to show us some attitude (it's called the terrible two's for a reason, right?), he's usually a sweetie. Love him.

holiday tradition: fondue

At some point through the years (probably at least 20 years ago - wow, does that make me sound old or what?!), we began the family tradition of having a fondue meal during the holiday season. We don't always have it on the same date (ex. Christmas Eve), but sometime around Christmas/New Year's, we enjoy this meal.  Our favorite fondue is "pizza" fondue - which includes pizza sauce, ground beef, and lots of cheese, which we eat by dipping french bread into the pizza fondue - yummy!

Project 365: 2

This year was the first time Braden got in on the action - and, since he loves anything that involves dip (ketchup, ranch dressing, salsa - you name it, he'll dip into it), it was no surprised that he also loved fondue!

On another note, today is our last day of vacation . . . back to school tomorrow.  I guess all good things must come to an end.  And on the bright side, I think we are ready to get back into something resembling a routine.  But 6:00 tomorrow morning is going to seem very early!

a new year

welcome, 2011.  twenty eleven.  can you believe it?

I always have to wonder on the first day of a new year what the year will bring . . . it is kind of exciting, and a a little sad too.  Sad because the each year seems to go faster than the last, and that means my little guy won't be isn't so little anymore.

Each new year, as you probably do too, I set a few goals (or as my new purse calendar says on its cover, "plans and intentions").  I'm not going to share all of my goals on our family blog, but one that I hope to complete this year is participating in project 365.  

I've heard of other people/bloggers doing this . . .  I am not going to "join" anything or be official about it, but I do want to try to take one photo a day.  I'm sure you can guess what who most of my pictures will be of . . . :)

I'm going to do this for a few reasons . . . .1. to document our life  2. to use my camera more, and hopefully become better at it   3. to post more often on the ol' blog.  (When I take pictures, I post.  So if I take a picture a day, I should post more frequently.  I don't plan to always post each day's photo on that day, because I know I won't do that.  I dislike downloading pics off the camera, and don't always find time to do it.  But I do plan to post all 365 photos, so that I will have a home for them.  Maybe I will end up printing them in an album/book too . . .

Anyway, here's photo 1.

Project 356: 1

I picked this one because it is such a common scene at our house right now. Little man and his tractors (and his hawkeyes . . . he now has 3 pairs of hawkeye jammies because they are his favorite).  Here's another pic, because I know someone who will not like the first one due to the "half body" composition.

Here's to a whole new year ahead!