Red Velvet Experiment

Happy Valentine's Day!

For my valentine, I decided to make a red velvet cake this year. My maiden voyage into the baking of this interesting cake follows.
After a little searching, I decided to use Paula Dean's recipe (as much as I can't stand the woman, she does have some amazingly delicious recipes) with little consultation from this cookbook. They were pretty similar.
First, I had to wait for the buttermilk and eggs to come to room temperature. May have rushed it just a bit because I wanted to get the cake in and out of the oven before Levi woke up from his nap.I don't have a functioning sifter anymore, so I hope my whisking of the dry ingredients was sufficient. I also used dutch processed cocoa even though the America's Test Kitchen recipe specifically said not to. It was the only cocoa I had. I also put in more cocoa than Paula's recipe called for, but not as much as the Test Kitchen recipe said to use.All the recipes I looked at stressed the importance of using a hand held mixer instead of a stand mixer. So I had to dig the old hand held model out. Didn't have as much food coloring as I needed but it doesn't look like it will make too much of a difference.

To top it off is a very standard cream cheese frosting. Which I wish Gabe would have made. He made a killer frosting for my birthday cake and as you can see...mine is a bit on the lumpy side. But I guess I couldn't ask him to make the frosting for his own Valentine's day treat. I'm already a failure as a valentine this year. Today at New Seasons I was trying to buy him a beer with some other Valentine's day treats I was picking up for him. I didn't grab my purse on my way out the door since the boys were coming with me. Turns out the checker at New Seasons had to ask for my ID and wouldn't have sympathy for a wife just trying to do something nice for her wonderful husband. I had to walk the beer down to Gabe and Levi's check stand and ask his checker to please put it on Gabe's tab. She was nice enough to discreetly put it into a bag without him seeing what kind of beer it is. That is unless he's peeked into the bag since it's been home in the fridge. Like I said, I'm a failure for a valentine.Tomorrow, after our traditional steak with blue cheese dinner, we'll cut this baby open. It will give me something to look forward to. I'm certainly not looking forward to spending Valentine's day trying to teach 140 middle school kids. The worst day of the year...too much drama and too many tears.

Cool Shades

I know, I know. More park pictures. We don't really have a lot of options for active adventures on a Saturday morning. We've discovered Levi will only take naps longer than an hour if he's very active in the morning. Definately going to figure out some new places to let this kid run all his energy out.

Photo by Gabe

As you probably noticed, our child has an obsession.  He wants to wear his glasses and hat EVERYWHERE.  Last weekend he wore his glasses to the grocery store.  And into the grocery store, where everyone commented about what nice glasses he had on.  Today he had to wear them to the park.  Even though the sun was under a very thick cover of rain clouds.  A friendly man walking his dog laughed when he saw Levi today with the sun hat and glasses on.  It was maybe 40 degrees this morning.  The man was wearing a stocking hat and gloves.  Like I said, this kid has an obsession...with looking cool.

Out of Juice

It's not raining today. This morning we set off to get some coffee and spend a few hours at the zoo. I grabbed the camera on our way out the door, hoping I could get a few good shots for our photo this week. I took a few pictures on Thursday night of Levi laying under the living room chair. Which happens to be one of his new favorite places to play when he's getting sleepy in the evenings. Strange kid. I knew the battery was getting low, but figured I could get a few more shots before it died completely.
I pull out the camera 2 minutes after arriving at the zoo. The black bear cub was wandering around looking oh so cute. Low and behold, the camera is dead. I couldn't take one shot. Totally disappointing! As I was watching Levi watch the river otters do back flips off the glass, I knew I was missing my shot for the week.
So this is all you get...me playing around with the macro lens. Which is actually ok. I haven't even touched that lens in what....could it be like 2 years? Another reason why I wanted to do this photo a week project. We need to play with our camera again. Especially now that Gabe bought this bad boy with his bonus.

Portlandia

It's really hard to admit that this show is SO Portland. I'm somewhat embarrassed to say this really is the city I love dearly. But it's also freakin' hilarious! So far, this is my favorite sketch.

When I heard this story about the show on Morning Edition, I sat in my car in the parking lot at school laughing out loud.

I do suspect that the only people actually watching this show are Portlanders or Portland expats. Hopefully everyone can enjoy a laugh at Portland's expense. And it's ok. We're laughing too!

Swinger

Photo by Heidi

We've got quite the swinger on our hands it seems.  When we go to the playground near our house all Levi wants to do is swing.  He will play on the slide and climb around on the play structure for a while, but swinging is where it's at.  He will even throw a bit of a fit when we get him out of the swing sometimes.

Playdate

Since Monday was a holiday and I had the day off, Weston and Danelle came over to play.
I made muffins and coffee.
The boys played, and us girls got a chance to catch up.

For the most part the boys did really well playing together. Pretty minimal complaints about having to share toys. The only time it got a little heated was when Weston got in the Lego storage bin and I pushed him around on the carpet while he was sitting in it. Levi thought Weston's turn needed to be over RIGHT NOW and just got into the bin while Weston was between rides. Both of them squished into one small plastic bin resulted in tears from both boys. Not sure if the tears were a result of injury or frustration. Pretty sure it was because both wanted rides at the same time. So, here's the photo of Levi trying to squeeze himself in, and force Weston out of the bin. The tears were starting to flow as I took this picture so it's clearly not that great. Wish I would have had time to get the shot from the other angle.

Hope this isn't a sign...

about the state my marriage is in. Or it would signal a state of complete neglect. Which I have to believe isn't entirely the case since we managed to have some "date nights" over the holidays.

We got this planter for our anniversary 2 years ago and I haven't managed to keep a plant that's occupied it alive. First it was this I killed off. And now this lovely (well...it was lovely once) succulent. The trouble with me and house plants is, I forget to water them. Guess a cactus is going in this planter next. Now what statement does that make about my marriage?

Fun to play with...

but not to eat. Or at least so says the label on the Play-Doh.

See what I made!

Levi certainly thinks that Play-Doh is fun stuff to play with.  Especially squashing all the balls that Heidi or I make for him.  He also seems to think that it might be fun to eat, but we've made sure he doesn't actually get too much in his mouth.

Interesting...

Gabe saw this article and we thought it was interesting given the theme we've picked to define our year.
Click here if you want to check it out.

Play can happen with ANYTHING

I know I'm about 12 hours late with this post...way to start my new goal. We had a last minute invitation to a friend's house for dinner. Got home after Levi's bed time and Gabe and I sat down to watch this. Thoughts of this new challenge didn't even cross my mind. That is, not until I was laying in bed unable to sleep. Should have just gotten up and done it then. Anyway...here's my first photo for my photo of the week project.In this house, almost anything can be played with. One of Levi's favorite "toys" are the pots and pans in the cupboard next to the oven. He stands in the small ones, claps the lids on the floor to make loud noises, and on Friday night as we got dinner together...he decided to lug this big one around with him. I suspect it's just his way of showing off how strong he is.

Photo of the Week

Well, I'm ready to announce the challenge I'm giving myself this year. This year my goal is to take a photo a week.
We started this blog four years ago with the challenge to take a photo every day for a year. Our hope was not only to document the big and small events of our lives, but also to force ourselves to be creative while improving our photography skills. With the additional member of our family, that challenge is no longer something we have time for. But I think we can do a photo every week.
In thinking about taking a photo every week, I didn't want it to be just any photo. I still want it to encourage us to be creative and improve our photography. So I'm thinking that maybe we'll take a picture every week around a theme. I'd like it to be a theme of what we want to focus our year around. Something we really want to focus our time and energy on in this new year, 2011. So the theme of 2011 is...PLAY.
We already play a lot around here but I'm hoping that taking a picture every week, with the thought of play in mind, will encourage me to let some things go and play even more. I often get caught up in the work I bring home, the dishes I need to do, and Angry Birds on my phone. I want to be more intentional about playing with my boys. And in the process, enjoying more of the small moments of the year.
My goal is to post each Saturday, a picture from the week. Who knows what my interpretation of play might be at that moment. I'm hoping Gabe might join me in this...but I haven't really asked him yet. The true goal is for this to help focus me on something I really want to do more of this year. We'll see what happens.

Week of stay-cation in photos...

Gabe and I both head back to work tomorrow, very reluctantly I might add.

Here's what we've been up to over our second week, enjoying our time at home.

Sunday: Tom made us a great brunch of Plumlee sausage gravy with biscuits.

Monday: Levi clearly wants to go home with his grandpa and grandma. He just needs to figure out how to get Tinka out of her crate.

Tuesday: Dinner and play time with the Wilkinsons. So glad we got to see them while they were here visiting from DC. Levi had fun "playing" with Zachary.

Wednesday: Play time at the pool and dinner after wards at one of Gabe's favorite places.

Thursday: Gabe got some work done on his car. With Joe's help he got the engine out of his car, now Joe will put it into their Vanagon.

Friday: Sausage making (see previous post)

Friday and into Saturday: Celebrating the New Year! Levi stayed overnight at G & G Girard's house while we went to Alexis and Eric's to play games and celebrate the end of 2010 and the start of 2011.
I have a new blog project idea. I might be ready to share it later today or tomorrow. Gabe leaves Tuesday to head to Florida for work (again). So, I might even wait to share it then. To be honest, I'm having trouble letting anything tear me away from the book I'm reading right now.

Sausage Making 101

Gabe and I have been thinking about grinding our own meat for a while. No better way to know exactly what's in the ground beef you're eating! When Gabe's aunt offered us a chance to buy some of the pigs she hand raises, we decided buying half a pig would be awesome! Most of the pig was processed by the butcher, cut and ready to eat. Instead of having the butcher turn the scraps into sausage, we decided this would be a perfect chance to try grinding our own meat. Gabe's dad and Joanne got me this for Christmas, and yesterday we ground half of the scraps into 1lb packages of ground pork and the other half into breakfast sausage using this recipe.

While Gabe trimmed and cut the meat. I mixed all the spices and herbs together.

Then we mixed everything together.

And sent it through the grinder.It was really easy! This is going to open up a whole new world to the best burgers and sausages imaginable. I think sausage will be on the breakfast menu in our house tomorrow! Next year, when we buy another half a pig from Aunt Jaki, we may take on making our own bacon too.

Christmas at home

We had a really wonderful Christmas at home.
Levi gave us a nice gift and slept until 8am! He couldn't have been more thoughtful after the sleepless nights we'd had previously. We opened the presents Santa brought, had some breakfast and just played most of the day. It was really nice to stay in our pj's until noon and enjoy our time together.After Levi's nap, we skyped with the Morrisons and Grandpa & Grandma G to wish them all a Merry Christmas. We enjoyed a wonderful Christmas dinner with my sister Becky and Gabe's dad & Joanne. For Christmas dinner, I made this and Gabe made a wonderful stuffed salmon.
After dinner when Levi was in bed, Grandpa Tom and Gabe had to put Levi's present together. It sure took them a long time. I wonder if the beers consumed during the construction had something to do with it!While the boys labored, the ladies played a game of Qwirkle and had a few glasses of the elderberry wine Tom and Joanne made.We had a very nice Christmas and enjoyed having Tom and Joanne here to visit.
I think we might have to venture out today or tomorrow and find some new storage solutions for all the new toys Levi got for Christmas. The clutter of toys is starting to get on my nerves! But Levi sure is having a blast!

Cookies for Santa

After dinner, we had to get started on a treat for Santa.
Levi loved helping us make cookies!
He got so excited when he got to help daddy pour in the spices!He really loved playing in the mess of flour he made on the floor.And of course doing the quality control taste test.

Levi's all snuggled in bed. We have a few more things to get ready before we're off to sleep as well. Levi didn't sleep very well in the same room with us at Grandma Winnie's house (neither did we). Every one here is pretty exhausted tonight. Plus, it's almost Christmas! Don't want to keep Santa away.
Merry Christmas!

Oakridge Family Christmas

We left town Wednesday afternoon to spend a few days with Gabe's family in Oakridge. As long as Levi is little, especially once he believes in Santa, I really want to be home for Christmas. So we came back home this afternoon. Very quick trip. It was really nice to see everyone. Just wish we could have visited more, and had time to play some games! Here are some pictures from the festivities today. We had a nice brunch together before opening some gifts.
On Thursday morning Gabe, Levi and I set out to find some snow in the hills outside of town. We didn't have much luck. Levi's never seen or played in the snow and the small amount we found wasn't that thrilling. It wasn't fresh powder and Levi kept slipping. (We haven't bothered to buy him boots this year. I'm sorta hopping we won't have to spend the money on ones he'll only wear once.) He did think it was pretty funny when I threw a little snow at him and he kept signing 'cold' whenever he touched it!

Girard Family Christmas

Since my folks are going to be gone for Christmas, we celebrated early at their house yesterday. We opened presents and had dinner together. It was really nice. Levi is definitely getting more into the whole present opening. He even wanted to help every one open their presents. And as soon as he saw there weren't toys inside each gift, he was off to play with his new toys.
We spent our first day of vacation just hanging at home. Played a lot with the new toys Levi got from his grandparents and aunts. Gabe's going to be home the next two weeks as well. I'm really looking forward to this stay-cation. We've got some work we could be doing around the house (like taking out the carpet in the dinning room and installing wood floors) but I'm not sure we're really going to try and make that happen. Both Gabe and I have had a rough couple months at work, so we may just relax with our little man. It might be nice to just enjoy some time with family and friends. That is what this time of year is all about right?

8th Holiday Cocktail Party

*****2012 Edit-We've done some better math, and determined that this is actually our 7th Holiday Cocktail Party.******

Saturday night we had our annual holiday celebration. Our house was full of friends and laughter. Plus some good food and drinks.
Thanks to everyone taking pictures with our camera, we had over 200 pictures of this party. Unfortunately most of them were taken without the flash so they had to be deleted. Most of the time drinks and photography don't mix!

The evening ended with a Gabe and Ross dance party, so it must have been a good time! I decided to spare you all and share the picture of Gabe dancing with his shirt buttoned.

Zoo Lights

(part two)
We tried to go to Zoo Lights a couple weeks ago on a Saturday night. It was so busy we couldn't even find a parking space so we came home. Tonight's trip was much better! A little wet, but it really just sprinkled a bit.

Levi seemed to enjoy all the lights. They have most of the animal exhibits closed off but we did get to see the penguins, polar bears, otter, sea lion, and of course the elephants. Levi really liked the penguins this time. He nodded emphatically when I asked him if he liked the penguins and also when I asked him if they were his friends. Didn't really get very good pictures. But here's one I like of Levi with his Grandpa and Grandma G. Grandpa and Grandma are going to be in Nashville visiting with Levi's big cousins for Christmas this year. So it was nice to do something festive with them since they won't be here to celebrate with us this year.

It's starting to feel a lot like Christmas!

We spent this morning decorating the tree and getting into the spirit of the season. The tree is trimmed, the stockings are hung.
Here's Levi getting into the spirit. Showing his friend elephant the tree. He might even be telling him to smell it...can't really be sure!
Helping Dad put the star on the top of the big tree. Big difference from last year. Wow this kid is growing fast!
Levi wasn't very interested in helping decorate the tree. Mostly he just wanted to play with the ornaments. This owl one was his favorite. I just finally put it on the tree, after we put Levi in bed. Hopefully it will stay on the tree tomorrow.
And here's the finished tree! Notice how it has been baby proofed. Very scarce on ornaments below the three foot mark. And those ornaments below three feet are safe for the little guy to touch. We're trying to just tell him the tree is to look at and not touch. We'll see how that goes.
Now Gabe and I are enjoying our tradition...watching this. We watch it every year on the weekend we get our Christmas tree.

We also spent the evening at my grandparents house today. They gave Levi his first Christmas present, a great cloth Rudolph the red nosed reindeer book. Lucky kid! Anyway, we showed him who Santa was in the book the first few times he looked at it. Then we asked him to point at Santa. He proceeded to then point at Santa in the book, and then his great Grandpa Girard. Apparently, Levi's great Grandpa is Santa Claus. He doesn't have a big white beard but he was wearing a red shirt. It was pretty cute!

Picking the perfect tree

We set off Saturday morning on our adventure to find the prefect Christmas tree. We didn't trek to the forest this year. But we were happy with the trees at the farm we decided on. Lots of really nice trees. This is a week earlier than we usually get our tree so we wondered if that's why there were so many more to choose from. This may be a bit of picture overload. But I had trouble choosing just one.
Here's Levi leading the search.
Here the boys are carefully checking the quality of the trees before we make our decision. Levi really wanted to help his dad cut down the tree but he'll have to wait awhile before that happens!
And here are the boys in front of the tree we all agreed was PERFECT!

Finished Kitchen

Well...almost finished. Gabe still has to do a little more painting touch up. But you can't really tell in pictures anyway. So here's the long awaited kitchen reveal.The pictures are a little dark since I took them at 8 o'clock last night. And they're distorted because I wanted to use the fish eye to get the entire room in the shots. But for those who haven't seen it yet, you get the idea.

I can't even tell you how happy we are with this new kitchen. We've got several other big house projects planned for this summer. But, we'll never do something this big again. Being without a working kitchen for 2 months is not something I ever want to do again. I am so proud of all the work Gabe put into it. He did a great job. And I'm thankful to all the friends and family that helped along the way. I'm just glad I now have this wonderful space to bake and cook in.

Thanksgiving Festivities

Here's our Thanksgiving 2010 celebration in pictures! To document the event, I had this idea to set up the tripod and camera to take a picture every 2 minutes. Put the fish eye lens on to get everyone into the shot, and just see what happened. So here are 2, of the many, shots of us enjoying our wonderful thanksgiving feast.After dinner Levi enjoyed burning off all the cranberries he ate by playing with mommy's big exercise ball.And here's what you should do if you want to get out of helping clean up the huge dinner mess.Another successful Thanksgiving dinner. We still haven't found the perfect stuffing recipe yet. So if anyone has one they love, send it our way for next year!

I'm thankful for...

~My beautiful, happy, and healthy son. He's such a silly goof ball and his laughter is contagious. He brings me the kind of joy I never thought was possible. His curiosity and intensity surprise me every day.

~Gabe, my extremely devoted and nerdy husband. He's amazing in all the areas I fall short. I'm so thankful he loves me and brings perspective and balance to my often neurotic thought process.

~Our home. Especially our new kitchen (which I will post pictures of by the end of the weekend).

~My job. In this time where so many are struggling and are unemployed, I do feel fortunate. Yes, it's a challenging and stressful job, but middle school students are also quirky and weird. I fit right in. And I'm so thankful I can go to work every day knowing my son is in the most loving hands possible.

Today, I'm giving thanks for everyone and everything I have in my life! I'll add pictures this evening or tomorrow.

Levi is thankful for...

I know I promised pictures of our cute 15 month old boy and the kitchen this week. I figured I should deliver on at least one of those promises. Even though I have a list of things I need to do that's a mile long, I'll take the next twenty minutes (while the garlic is roasting in the oven) to follow through on my promise.
Levi has some things that are the highlights of his day. So I figured for posterity's sake, I'd document those things Levi is very thankful for every day.

Levi is thankful for the 1/2 hour of TV time he gets everyday! He only watches Baby Signing Time while we're getting a meal (lunch or dinner) ready for him. But when you mention, "Do you want to watch Baby Signing Time?" he gets the biggest grin and starts giggling as he walks toward his big red chair.

Another thing Levi is thankful for is his afternoon snack. Which he eats in his big red chair. He is always so happy and proud sitting in that chair having his apples and milk. I had to take a picture of him just to prove how big he's gotten. He definitely looks like a big kid enjoying his snack.Levi is also thankful for his Grandma G. I can't even tell you how excited this kid gets when she walks through the door each morning! Plus, Grandma came over and helped nurse Levi back to health last week. I don't know what I would have done without her. There was no way I wanted Levi next to me while I was upchucking into the toilet.

And finally, Levi is thankful for his cat. Other than saying Momma and Dadda, the only other word Levi is saying is Dat (Cat). Pretty sure that's because he loves that cat as much as he loves his mom and dad. And I know Jupiter feels the same way about Levi. I've never seen a cat so loving and patient with a kid who just wants to pull his tail and give him big slobbery kisses.

Levi is thankful for many more things...but right now my kitchen timer is going off and the to do list is calling my name. Maybe I can include a few more of Levi's when I write my own list tomorrow.
Happy Thanksgiving!

Unprepared

This post might be a little too personal for some of you. I know I rarely post much in the way of serious content, but this has been on my mind for the last week. I guess it was because of the abrupt ending to it all.

In so many ways I was unprepared for breast feeding my son. I knew I wanted to because of all the evidence that supports breast feeding's benefits. We took the class through the hospital and I really, seriously thought that's all I needed to know. After all, it's one of the most natural things humans do and experience. Well, no one prepared me for the difficulty Levi would have latching because of his severe tongue tie. And the frustration that caused all three of us. I wanted to quit from the very start. But I was determined! No one prepared me for the cracked, sore nipples or the number of times I would wake up completely soaking my entire side of the bed. No one prepared me for hauling my nemesis (the evil breast pump) to work with me for 6 months. Or the fact that I'd have 15 minutes to eat lunch and go to the bathroom since the other half of my short lunch was spent hooked up to a machine. I always set small goals for us. We can make it to six months at least...We'll just keep going until a year. I always assumed that when Levi's first birthday came that would be the end of it. I'm not one of those people who LOVES the experience of breast feeding their child. But now I realize I do love that snuggle time with my son and I'm having a much harder time admitting that he's ready to move on. It might be so difficult for me because I think this is the first of many ways he's showing me he's really not a baby anymore. So more than anything, I think I've just been mourning the fact that my baby isn't really a baby anymore. Plus, after being sick this week, he just cut me off cold turkey and I just wasn't prepared for it. Like I said...I'm just feeling unprepared. Me, the queen of always being prepared, also has a hard time letting go. Guess I better just get use to it.

There's no doubt you're a parent when...

you're catching your child's vomit in your hand to avoid getting it all over your bed, and you were just hugging the toilet 10 minutes ago yourself.
That's the week we've had around here. Gabe and I recovered pretty quickly, but poor little Levi is just now looking to be on the mend.

Well, I'm off for the entire week (3 furlough days, 2 days for the holiday) so I'm committing to do some serious posting. Gabe's almost finished with the final touches on the kitchen, so I at least need to show off our new kitchen before we put it to work preparing the Thanksgiving feast. Plus, I realize this blog is missing pictures of the cutest little 15 month old kid I know.