Superman etc.

This is the third child to go through this outfit... Aunt Mandy bought this for Xavier's second birthday; it's been a favorite with all the boys.








And this is what happens when you teach children that once they spill their milk, they will not be allowed any more for that meal; they must have water instead. Some kids just love their milk.

the latest mei tai

I've finally perfected the technique of what I need to make one of these sucessfully. We zipped over to the fabric outlet last Sunday, I whipped this out today. I still can't believe that something THIS comfortable came out of my sewing machine. The key with all baby carriers is weight distribution. And the mei tai style is awesome for heavier babes...

picture parade

Hello all, here's the latest:


Steve's trying to keep his head above water as his final month of firefighter training comes to a culmination. We'll both be thrilled when this is finished!


Ellie has been going baby-carrier crazy and since we can't splurge on the hundreds of dollars the kind she WANTS cost, I've resorted to making my own, imperfect but serviceable ones. These are my two guinea pigs. The beige one is called a mei tai and I'm in love with it. It supports the baby's (or TODDLER'S) weight SOOO well... better than some of my store bought carriers. I learned a lot already and can't wait to perfect my technique with following ones.


Xavier is putting in lots of miles in the backyard.

Leo is busy driving Dominic up the wall.

Dominic is a sweetheart, trying to get over the remnants of his cold. Excuse the boys' pasta faces in the bottom photos.

He's so big

Xavier no longer uses training wheels on his bike!!! We are watching a 6 year old girl today who asked if she could 'coach' him to ride a two wheeler and so Steve took them off and after only about 5 minutes he was zooming around! I couldn't believe it! He was so ready...

news

First of all, I decided it was time for a new family portrait; and I must say that this is the best I've ever looked in a picture. We are lacking in a "dirty blonde" people for Leo, so the kid with the hat will have to do.

Any news on the family front? Not so much. I've done a couple more photo gigs for small payment so that's nice.... also have another wedding coming up in June. So this convinced Steve and me that it was time to upgrade our camera a bit to better equip it for the professional stuff. And so, we bought an external flash, a diffusion attachment and a camera remote: hooray! Now we can do bounce lighting for indoor shots and have much better control over the lighting. I'll feel 100 times more confident in doing the next wedding than I did in the last one.

Boys are playing hard, we're all still getting over the sicknesses. Leo and Dominic had ear infections and since we've had mixed luck and bad feelings about antibiotics, I went ahead and took matters into my own hands and did a garlic oil drop solution and Hydrogen Peroxide and it's worked well!!!

Steve's working hard as always; the firefighter training continues until May so we'll be excited to be done with these tedious homework nights.

And we were asked to be godparents to our friends Joe and Lindsay's newest baby (she's due any day now) so we are thrilled to add another member to our family. Unfortunately, we can't quite swing taking the whole family out there so just Steve (who was Joe's confirmation sponsor) will be attending the baptism in Utah later this month.

And that's about it for now!

Chocolate Chip Cookies 101

I could really write a whole essay on the essence of cookies. I've gotten so into baking lately and reading cookbooks for fun and comparing and testing recipes and modifying things. So I'm posting what I consider to be the ultimate chocolate chip cookie recipe... with a few disclaimers.

1. Some people differ on what they believe a chocolate chip cookie should taste like. Should it be soft or crispy? Flat or puffy? Semi-sweet chips or milk chocolate chips? In my opinion, a cookie should be primarily soft and it may have a delicate crisp edge but definitely not throughout the center.


2. People often try to recreate cookie recipes and wonder what went wrong since they followed the recipe exactly. There are many variable in the baking process. As such I'll be as specific as possible if you want these yummies to be perfect.


3. I can't take complete credit for this recipe... the base of it is a modification off of Steve's grandma's recipe AND the recipe found in the Fannie Farmer cookbook. I tweaked both to come up with the best.


4. Some cookies will look prettier than these. But the flavor is incomparable.


5. All ingredients are best to be at room temperature before beginning.


6. Do not even think about substituting the butter for Crisco. Using shortening will give you puffier, prettier cookies, but the flavor is severely compromised even if you use "butter flavored" shortening. Using real butter also helps keep the cookies tasting great for a longer period of time.


7. Also, try not to sub out the sugars. Most cookie recipes have a combination of white and brown for a reason. White gives a more delicate crispier taste and brown gives a depth of flavor.


8. Regarding the chips: semi-sweets are the best. Milk chocolate is too sweet. The combination I do most frequently here is to use 1/2 semi-sweets and 1/2 peanut butter chips. This is our family favorite. (Do not buy the "swirl" of peanut butter/chocolate chips... they use milk chocolate and the ratio of flavors is off.)


9. BAKING the cookies. This is what makes or breaks the cookie. If you love soft, delectable cookies, never bake them until they look brown and done. They should still look a bit raw in the middle and only slightly golden around the edges. When you pull them out of the oven, they'll continue to set up on the sheets. Don't take them off the sheets for 5 minutes or so. Whenever I follow a recipe, I start checking the cookies a minute or two BEFORE the low end of the times given. This batch bakes for 8 and 1/2 minutes exactly in my oven... but yours may be different.

Without further ado, (this is a relatively smallish recipe, yielding about a couple dozen or so):

• 1/2 cup butter.
• 1/2 cup Brown Sugar
• 1/2 cup White sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp. Vanilla extract
• 1 1/8 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 cup oatmeal (I use whole oats, but I suppose quick oats could be tolerated)
• 1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375. Cream together the butter and sugars until well blended. Add in the egg and vanilla and blend well. Mix together in a seperate bowl the flour, salt, baking soda and oatmeal. Add this into the previous mix and blend well. Fold in the chocolate chips. Scoop onto cookie sheets and bake 8-10 minutes.

generosity gone too far

Xavier says to me (without a trace of malice... just sincere thoughtfuless): "Mom, should we give Leo away?"

Me: "Why would we do that?!"

Xavier: "Well, some poor kids don't have any brothers, they'd probably like him."

Me: "Well, Leo was a gift to OUR family... wouldn't you miss him if he was gone."

Xavier: "Yeah, I guess so."