Chocolate Peanut Butter Birthday Cake

It's Tuesday, so it's time to get "tasty" again.  This week I wanted to share a cake I made for my niece's birthday.

Cabin Fever

After my last post and introduction of the newest feature on the blog--Tasty Tuesday--my sister requested several other weekly posting structures.  While I'm not against posting "Fotos on Friday" or "Musings on Monday", I'm going to forgo the regular scheduling of posts like that and try to keep things a bit more free on days other than Tuesday.  Photos are definitely a BIG part of this blog, so for this week, I thought I'd oblige my sister and make today a Foto Friday post. You're welcome, Sharon. :-)

Strawberry Sour Cream Ice Cream

Good day!  I'm back on the blog trying to keep my posts a little more frequent than they recently were.  One way that I plan to do this is to start a new feature on this here blog.  I think I'll call it "Tasty Tuesday" and plan to post some kind of delicious food or recipe each Tuesday.  Hopefully that will help me regularly post at least once a week.  So let's see how that goes.

Worth the wait?

Winter is over, spring is back on track in Southeast Alaska (what a yucky start to May we've had), and I'm officially back to blogging.  Whew!  Do I feel better now!

'Twas the Night Before Valentine's Day

It's Valentine's Eve--not that it's an official holiday, but you get the idea--but there's still one creature stirring in this house.  I'm indulging a bit in my inner night owl and preparing some things for my family in preparation for tomorrow's day of LOVE. 

Keeping the Tooth Fairy Busy

It's been a few weeks now,

Homemade Ice Cream...Even in Winter

The time has come for me to finally finish off this blog post and move it out of my drafts folder.  Don't know why I always seem to get stalled at this same point in the blogging process.  Oh wait!  I suppose I have 4 reasons to get distracted from completing my blog posts in a timely manner--the husband and three kiddos in my life--all good reasons, of course. :)

Ok on to a highly important topic...ice cream.  But not just any kind, the homemade kind.  As it is in most cases, homemade is just better.  If you agree with me and you have one of these....

a Kitchen Aid mixer--any style will do.

Then you really ought to consider getting one of these...

Boys and Books

The new year has started well for our little family--in the normal slightly chaotic way. We're enjoying the coziness of indoor activities this time of year.  But of course when the sun shines and it's not too bitterly cold, we definitely get outside.  And naturally there are times we need to be outside shoveling sidewalks, scraping windsheilds, tending to our chickens or hauling in firewood.  But when we can be inside, it doesn't get much better than to be near our new (to us) woodstove with a warm beverage and a good book. 

2011 Favorite Photos

Each year, I enjoy wrapping up my favorite photos from the past 12 months into one neat little blog post.  Usually I keep it to 10 or maybe 12 of my favorites, but this year I guess I got a little gluttonous and compiled a list of 25.  Maybe I can blame it on some improved photography skills thanks to lots of practice and a class I took last winter.  Whatever the reason, I worked really hard to whiddle my favorite photos down to just 25.  They are the best of the best.  The one's that bring warmth to my heart and a smile to my face.  Most of them have a specific story or memory connected to them.  But a few are just the perfect moment or expression caught at just the right time on the camera.  I hope you enjoy this year's round up of favorites.  If you'd like to see my previous year end posts, look here (2010), here (2009) and here (2008).

So here we go for 2011...in no particular order...

That smile...I LOVE it!  As my mom says, "he smiles from ear to ear".--September

Jingle Bells

I realize that some of you have already taken down your Christmas tree and your thoughts have turned to eating healthier or starting a new habit, but I'm finally getting a chance to sit down and fiddle with a new video recorder we got recently. We shot this video a few days before Christmas, but as usual the hustle and bustle around here kept me from doing anything with the video.

We hope you enjoy this little concert and that your 2011 ended on a happy note. :)
And yes, our Little Miss wanted both of her front teeth for Christmas.

**edited--video is working now**

Growing Up

A week or so ago now, I was taking pictures of the kids for our Christmas card and I decided to take a minute to snap a few more shots of the little miss.  She is really growing up so fast. 

First Haircut

A few weeks ago now, I gave in.  I finally decided the cute curls on our little babe were looking more like tufts or wings.  Shawn had been wanting to give him a haircut about 6 months ago, but I protested.  And officially banned him from going anywhere near the little babe with clippers of scissors.  The first haircut for our little man was a bit traumatic for me--just too big of a change.  So I didn't want to repeat that.
I personally love the curly soft baby hair.  It seems to me that not a lot of babies keep this look for very long anymore.  For some reason, the curly soft baby hair look makes me think of a baby from the 40's or 50's--sort of nostalgic.  And I like it.

But I realized it was time.  And it may have helped that the little miss brought home a picture of her family she had drawn at school.  The little babe character had "wings" above his ears.  So yeah, if his big sister considered his "wings" his defining characteristic, then it was definitely time for a haircut.
I chose the bathtub for our inaugural trim.  I'm not really sure how much it helped, but I'm sure it would have been more difficult if I had just sat him in a chair.