Recent Baking

So...I stopped keeping up my other blog where I recorded recipes and pictures of those recipes.  I'm kind of bummed that I stopped doing this - it was a really, really handy recipe file for me.  It was a great way to keep track of the things that we've made and enjoyed: complete with pictures to jog my memory of the specific dishes (cookbooks with pictures are always the best - this is sorta like that).  BUT...it takes a lot of time to take the pictures, upload the pictures, write the post, etc.  I'd kinda been slacking off, but about the time I got pregnant with Willa my energy for it really dropped.  While it doesn't even begin to compare to some of my friends early pregnancy experiences (which consisted of major sickness), I didn't feel well for the whole first trimester.  Everything made me feel nauseous, I was incredibly tired all the time, and my general disposition was down in the dumps.  All of that passed, but I never picked up that blog again and now...running after these three little ones, teaching a new AP class, etc - I can hardly keep up with this one.  And it kinda makes me sad.

The girls and I have spent some time in the kitchen lately, though, and I do want those projects recorded.

Here's a cake that I made for some good friends' son's 2nd birthday.  (The design didn't come out of my head - I saw it on...wait for it...Pinterest, but it was just a picture with no website, so I don't know where to attribute the design.)

 

 

It is a yellow cake (from the red & white plaid Better Homes & Gardens cookbook) with jello frosting, only I added a couple tablespoons of meringue powder to help it stablize.  I used a grass decorators tip (Wilton #234) for Cookie's "fur," and the eyes are Ritz crakers dipped in almond bark (the center of the eyes are just some melted chocolate chips).  The chocolate chip cookies are homemade, too...although they are a frequent dessert at my house, apparently they never made it on the blog so I don't have a link there.

C & E are acquiring my love for baking (yea!).  And for Valentine's Day we made some mini-cupcakes:

I love mini-cupcakes, because you can eat two without feeling guilty and they have a much better frosting-to-cake ratio. I just used the chocolate cake recipe from the BH&G cookbook and filled mini-muffin tins.  I used my standard cookie scoop to fill the muffin tins, and they came out the perfect size (once scoop per cupcake). 

The frosting here is pretty unique - its a fantastic substitute for standard buttercreme, or whipped creme frosting.  It's a cross between the two actually.  It has the texture of a whipped creme frosting, but is more like buttercreme, but not as sweet.  I think it pairs perfectly with the rich chocolate cake.  (However, my mom thought it wasn't sweet enough.)  This is the same frosting that I use for Oatmeal Creme Pies.  The girls did the sprinkle-decorating.

Six Month Photo Dump

Willa is six months old!!  Actually, she was six months old almost a week ago but we just went to her doctor's appointment today.  As suspected, she's pretty perfect.

Since we're at the 6th month mark, let's take a look back at some of her growth pictures (I didn't take them for nothing, after all):

Right now Willa weights 15 lbs, 15 oz.  (less than Cora did at this age, but more than Evaline) which puts her at the 44th percentile for weight, she is 25 1/2 inches long (1/4 inch longer than C&E were) which is the 29th percentile, and her HUGE noggin is in the 97th percentile!!

Willa is rolling from tummy to back like its her job, she hates lying on her tummy more than anything and has no interest in being there.  Ever.  She has rolled from back to tummy, twice, but has since decided that it isn't worth the effort.  She is well on her way to sitting solo, getting a bit better at balancing on her hips everyday. It takes a lot of strength to hold up that huge head of hers.  She's pretty keen on her bottle (and if you catch a glimpse of her thighs, you will have no doubt of this) but has very little interest in solids.  She's tried cereal, peas, green beans, carrots and apples...but nothing has yet tempted her palate. She's reaching and grabbing for things. She's quiet and observant, but she loves to be around people.  Generally, she will be happy if she's positioned in the room where she can see everything going on - but only if everyone stays where she can see them (she gets cranky when left alone). She loves her floor gym, her giraffe-blanket, her crinkly giraffe toy, her "O" ball, and anything that she grab on to and put in her mouth.  She loves watching her big sisters act goofy (unfortunately, however, the very things (sounds, actions, etc) that elicit peals of laughter and squeals of glee from Willa are....super annoying to Ian and me. Because of Willa's response, it's cute the first ten times or so, but after that.....).  She goes to bed around 6:30 at night and on school days we wake her up around 6:00 am but on weekends she'll sleep until 7:00 or 7:15.  (I'm a huge advocate for early sleep training.) Her naps are good, but inconsistent - two or three a day, anywhere from one to three hours at a stretch.

And that's Willa.

And here's Willa, too:

Just hanging out, being her smiley self

It's hard to tell, but they're all wearing sheep-themed footy jammies

She looks as though she's all excited to eat.  Looks are deceiving.

Shortly before a nose-dive.

Another happy baby girl.

Cora's teaching her to use her computer.

This was her first bite of cereal.

Watching Mom and Dad fold laundry.

I've had some questions about who does she look like here lately....here are some pics...let's see if you can guess who is in each one:

Picture A:

Picture B:

                                      

Picture C:

Picture D:

Picture E: 

                                                   

Answers: 

A: Cora, B: Willa, C: Evaline, D: Merry  E: Ian(I'm a little older, and Ian's a little younger, but I had limited access to pictures from the same age). 

So?  How'd you do?

Sunday Funnies

Evaline #1:

Evaline: Are we having a party?

Me: No.

Evaline: Who's coming over?

Me: Nobody.

Evaline: Hmph...then...why are you so busy cleaning everything?


Evaline #2:

Ian: Godammit!

Evaline: Daddy, you shouldn't say "Godammit"....when you are frustrated, just say "Awwww, pickles!"

Time Flies, sort of

Our little Willa isn't quite so little anymore.  Well, I guess it is all relative, because really, she's still pretty little.  But she's growing bigger (and growing up), and it's pretty fun to watch.  I've said it joking to a couple of friends lately...but... having only one baby is a piece of cake.  Well, its a piece of cake if that one baby is a Willa.  If that one baby had been an Evaline or even a Cora, it wouldn't be quite so easy.  But Willa...she's practically taking care of herself.  (Knock on wood...)

First let's take a look at how she's grown:

We had our four-month doctor appointment yesterday, and basically...she's perfect.  But I already knew that.  She weighs 14 lbs, 7 oz (55th percentile) and is 24 1/4 in. long (44th percentile).  She can do all of the things the doctor asked about: smiles, coos, high-pitched squeals, laughs, sucks on her fingers, and puts her hands together.  She's also rolled over a few times from her tummy to her back.  She's only done it a handful of times, and she's only done it in front of me...but I swear she really did it.  I think that some people (ahem, mom) are starting to doubt me on this.

We started sleep training with her this week.  She had been sleeping through the night pretty well, then she started waking up at night crying.  Our doctor says that that is the signal that she needs some sleep training: she's waking up in the night and getting kinda freaked out because she fell asleep in our arms and is now in her bed.  The same sensation as if I were to fall asleep in my bed and wake up in my car - that would freak anyone out, right?  So...she has to be set up to wake up in the same conditions where she went to sleep - meaning: falls asleep in her crib, no pacifier. The first night we did this, we put her down around 7:15, she cried for 15 minutes and then fell asleep, and woke up around 6 the next morning.  The second night, she didn't cry at all and woke up at 6.  The third night, again no crying, woke up at 6.  This is too good to be true, right?  Tonight she's gonna be screaming for three hours, right?  No baby really does this, do they? Cora and Evaline were fairly easy to sleep train, but it still took three or four nights of pretty hard crying (if I remember right, it was for a little over an hour the first night and then gradually downhill from there). But then, there are a lot of things that make Willa a very different baby.

• Willa is pretty content.  All the time.  She only cries if she's hungry or tired.  She can amuse herself for a LONG time, as long as she can see us.  If we are out of her line of sight for very long, she will give these semi-angry high-pitched yelps until we move back where she can see us.  Then she's happy again.  
• She takes pretty good naps.  Here this break our routine has been: up somewhere between 6-6:30, bottle at 7, nap from 8 - 9:45/10ish, bottle, nap around noon and up at 1:00ish, bottle, nap from about 2-3:30 or 4, bottle, bath at 6:30 then bottle then bed somewhere in the 7:15 range.  Ian and I have had several discussions about whether it is normal for a baby to sleep this much, if she might be sick, etc.  Cora and Evaline would hardly ever nap.

Luckily, we don't really have to do the sleep training stuff for the naps.  We can rock her to sleep and let her go down with a pacifier.  Night-time sleep, I guess, is a different kind of sleep - and the length of sleep expectation (10-11 hours rather than 1-2) is different as well.

Anyway...these last four months have been fun.  In some ways its a bit sad to be leaving the really baby stage behind (Ian, I'm sure, would disagree)...but I think that life is set up so that once one stage is over your really, mostly ready to move on.  I love the baby that Willa is becoming.  She's the sweetest thing in the whole world, she isn't stingy with her smiles, and she's smitten with her big sisters.  Who, in turn, are also smitten with her.  Particularly Cora, who is definitely her little guardian angel - always watching out for her and running to her with a pacifier, a blanket, a toy or just her own silly smiles any time Willa seems the least bit perturbed.  

Merry Christmas!!

'Tis the Season

What a busy month we have had!  I went back to work on November 12 and things have been a whirlwind ever since. Its been so hectic we decided to send out Happy New Year's cards instead of Christmas ones.  The week I went back was finals week (we're on a trimester system), then we had a week off for Thanksgiving, and then four weeks of school before Christmas Break.  Between the holidays and getting into the swing of things with work, I sometimes feel like I haven't sat down in a month!  This year (of all years, right?) I took on a bit more at work - I'm now teaching AP US History.  I'm loving it...but it is taking more work to put the course together and then grading on top of it.  Not complaining...just sayin'.

Here's a bit of what we've been up to on the home front:

We hosted Thanksgiving at our house again this year for both Ian's and my side of the family.  Fun as always...even if it is a tight fit in the dining room.

Are you on Pinterest?  Holy moly - the good ideas that are floating around cyberspace.  I'm a HUGE fan.  Here's some cornucopias I made from ice cream cones as table favors:

Speaking of Pinterest...I got a great idea off there for how to hang our stockings without buying five stocking hangers...using an old curtain rod and ribbon:

On Thanksgiving we were able to get some good pictures of the girls with some of the great-grands:

Like this one of Evaline with "Papa John" (my mom's dad)

Or this one with Willa and Grandma Ethel Mae (Ian's dad's mom)...oh and Aunt Katie's there, too

Grandma Ethel Mae again with all the girls

We put the tree up on December 1st - and it was about all the girls could do to wait that long.

Christmas cookies and hot chocolate!

The girls put on most of the ornaments this year...

And Willa hung out on the couch watching

There's an old historic mansion in town.  I was an intern there during the summer of 2003.  My parents both volunteer for various events and give house tours.  My mom used to work as part of the house staff, which means she supervised the house while tours were going on.  Anyway, in early December they had a big "Santa, Snacks and Stories" event and we took the girls.  Both my parents volunteered for this event; mom didn't make it any of the pictures, but see if you can spot my dad...

Waiting for Santa with lists in hand.

Meeting the "big guy"

The first snowfall this season.  Nothing stuck, but Cora and Evaline were super excited to go out running about in it.

The second snowfall...last Thursday.  Several inches of heavy, wet snow and blowing wind meant school was cancelled two days before break, and then a late arrival the next day.  (Not many kids were at school on Friday).

Shoveling the driveway is So. Much. Fun!

And hot cocoa is the perfect finish.  Evaline insisted that they drink hot cocoa from regular mugs...and that will be the last time that is allowed for quite awhile.  They drink milk out of non-sippy cups all the time...but this ended up all over their fronts.  Probably because it stains.

Christmas cookies and crafts!

Chocolate covered Ritz sandwiches

Santa star ornaments**

I took the girls' 'Thing One and Thing Two' shirts from Halloween, removed the white circles from the front and turned them into Christmas shirts...

We also started a couple of new Christmas traditions around the house this year:

Heart-Star joined the family for the month of December:

Then, on Friday night Ian got Cora and Evaline ready for bed as usual, but when they got into bed they found these tickets under their pillows.

We all piled into the car with hot-cocoa (again...but in sippies this time), Texas Trash (aka. Chex Mix for the non-Coopers), and Christmas music playing and drove around looking at Christmas lights.**

**Another idea I got from Pinterest

And that gets us pretty up-to-date.  We have my Wiley family Christmas this afternoon, then Ian's family tomorrow (Christmas Eve), and my family on Christmas day.  A busy, happy, start to the week!

We wish everyone a very Merry Christmas!