6 Months Old

I really can't believe that Luke is 6 months old already! From the lack of blog posts, life has obviously been very busy. Luke continues to change so much on almost a daily basis. He is a happy baby, flashing huge smiles to anyone who will give him even the slightest bit of attention. He is so interested in everything that is happening around him, to the point where he doesn't want to take naps during the day or sleep though the night most nights. He is a champion at eating cereal and learning to appreciate sweet potatoes and peas. About a month ago he started sitting up by himself for short periods of time, and every day he gets stronger and stronger. Luke tries grabbing any item within arm's distance, and it goes immediately into his mouth. He also goes CRAZY in his exersaucer. I can't wait to see how he changes in the next 6 months!

He loves his toes!

Brotherly love!

Not so sure about those sweet potatoes

Foodie Friday - #4 (a day late)

For Evan's 4th birthday party, I kept the menu pretty simple. We ordered fried chicken, ribs, and cole slaw from a local barbecue place, Nick's Ribs, and I made baked beans in the crock pot as an additional side dish. Instead of a cake, I ordered a Toy Story cupcake stand from Wilton.com and made red velvet cupcakes.

Slow Cooker Baked Beans

http://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/slow-cooker-baked-beans-74905.aspx
I've made these several times and they're always a big hit!

Red Velvet Cupcakes

http://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/red-velvet-cupcakes-114532.aspx
These were REALLY good. The cupcake part was moist, and the frosting was not too sweet. I kept the extras in the fridge so we were able to enjoy the rest of them for several days after the party.

Celebration

Last weekend we had Evan's 4th birthday party, and of course it was a Toy Story theme. Since it wasn't a huge milestone age, we kept it small, only inviting my parents and Rick's parents and siblings. This was the first birthday that Evan truly understood the concept of presents, especially since his birthday is so close to Christmas. This was a good and bad thing, since he expected to receive everything on his wish list and was pouting because he didn't get "a trailer to go behind the big car". He had a blast, though, and it was a really fun evening!

Wearing his birthday crown from school

Hiding in his new tent from grandma and papa

Posing with Aunt Lisa and Uncle Mike

Foodie Friday - #3

Avgolemono is a Greek egg lemon soup that has always been one of my favorite meals. I was a very picky eater when I was young, and that's something even I would inhale! It's a meal I make frequently in our house as it is easy and quick to make and definitely a comfort food on a cold day. I'm posting the recipe today since it is already on my menu for dinner next week.

Avgolemono

Ingredients:
4 C chicken broth
3 eggs
1/2 C rice
Juice of 1 lemon

Directions:
Cook rice in broth until tender. Separate eggs. Beat egg whites until stiff. Add egg yolks. Add lemon juice, beating constantly. Slowly add 1/2 C hot broth to egg mixture beating constantly to prevent curdling. Add egg mixture to hot broth. Stir constantly over low flame until almost ready to boil. Remove from flame and serve.

Source: Our Kouzina Revisited
St. Nicholas Ladies' Philoptochos Cookbook

My notes on the recipe: To give the soup more substance I often add chopped/shredded cooked chicken. The easiest way is to cook 1-2 chicken breasts in the crockpot in a small amount of chicken broth with some salt and pepper. The recipe only calls for 1 lemon, but I ALWAYS add more than that, and fresh lemon is much better than bottled lemon juice. I usually also add sliced carrots to get in a serving of veggies for the day.

A picture from September 2008 when Evan did not like Avgolemono,
but now he loves it!

New Milestones

I'm always amazed how infants change almost on a daily basis. It's so exciting when Luke does something new, and I always have the camera on hand just in case we need to capture a special moment. In the past few weeks, Luke rolled over from his tummy to his back and has started with deep belly laughs. He is reaching for the toys on his play gym and is beginning to use his tummy muscles to pull himself up to a sitting position. I also don't want to jinx it, but he is sleeping through the night most nights (although we still have some very fussy evenings and definitely earn those solid hours of sleep!).

1st time rolling over

Watching his bear closely

Hanging with his big bro

Happy 4th Birthday!

Evan celebrated his 4th birthday on Wednesday. It was my last day of winter break, so I was happy to spend the day at home with him. He was very excited about his special day. However, the fact that his party isn't until tomorrow really confused him. Although I had only planned to make cupcakes for his party, he insisted he needed a cake on his birthday. Luckily I had a yellow cake mix in the back of the cabinet and then whipped up some homemade chocolate frosting. He also kept asking to open his presents. Again, that wasn't in the plan until his party and I could not give in to that. (Note to self: next year buy a small gift for his actual birthday.) Yesterday was his first time celebrating his birthday at school. I wasn't sure how he would react, but he was SO happy when I picked him up. He had a birthday crown, blue toy car from the treasure chest and a cute paper cupcake he decorated. I asked him if he wore the crown while his friends sang to him, and he said he did, which is great if you know how shy Evan can get! His teachers also said he told them he was having a Toy Story party. I am so extremely happy with how far he has come since starting school in September! Anyways, happy birthday to my (not-so) baby boy!



And, a look back at previous birthdays...

Foodie Friday - #2

Every Christmas I look forward to baking various items and sharing them with family and friends (and of course enjoying them at home too!). Since my maternity leave ended mid-December, I baked a few items ahead of time and kept them in the freezer, then finished everything else the weekend before Christmas. It worked out really well and will probably continue to do that in the future. I made 6 different treats this year. However, since I am blogging from my in-laws' house, I will only be posting links to the recipes that I found on-line.

Fabulous Fudge

I am not sure why I have waited so long to make fudge. It uses very few ingredients, is extremely easy to make, 1 batch makes a lot of pieces, and it stores very easily. This recipe is from a newer show on Food Network that is all desserts. Yum!

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/anne-thornton/fabulous-fudge-recipe/index.html

Decorated Sugar Cookies

I am obsessed with sugar cookies. The first time I attempted to decorate them it was a complete failure. Since then, I have done some research on food blogs and am getting better with each try. There are tons of recipes out there for both the cookies and icing, but so far these are my favorites.

http://annies-eats.com/2007/12/12/christmas-cookies/
http://annies-eats.com/2008/12/23/sugar-cookies-with-royal-icing/

Candy Cane Biscotti

Every year I have to make something with mint. I found this recipe and have always wanted to make biscotti, so I gave it a try. I think they were my favorites of everything I made this year. I highly recommend dipping them in hot chocolate or coffee.

http://annies-eats.net/2009/12/22/candy-cane-biscotti/

The other things I made were rum balls, double peanut butter cookies, and gingerbread chocolate chunk cookies.

On Christmas day we went to my parents' house for dinner, so that gave me the opportunity to try another new dessert recipe - eggnog cupcakes. They turned out great. The eggnog flavor was not overpowering and the cupcakes were really moist.

http://annies-eats.net/2010/12/17/eggnog-cupcakes-2/

As you may have noticed, many of my recipes come from annies-eats.net. I love this blog and highly suggest you check it out!