Baking and Cooking up a storm!

My weight gain this pregnancy has been normal.. which is a complete shocker because I am baking and cooking something new and crazy almost every other day! And I am consuming a LOT of what I make! I love to bake, but I really need to cut back because I love to eat my hard work.. but I did start freezing half of what I make.. There are some yummy rasberry muffins in the freezer right now next to the homemade oreo icecream (made with homemade oreos).. here is some of the evidence: (I'm not a food photographer however, as you will soon tell! sorry!)

*Chocolate Buttermilk Ice-Cream.. so rich and creamy and yummy!

*Old-Fashioned Whoopie Pies- all right.. tastes too shorteningy for me though..*Cake Mix Cookies, YUMMY! apparently I can't get enough chocolate!
*Home-made Oreos.. DIVINE! The cookies were just a little soft, which I love a soft chocolate cookie and I added vanilla bean paste to the cream which added a lot! Some of these went into the oreo ice-cream (no photo of that... but there's still some in the freezer if you want to come over..)*Collard Greens with Ham Hocks, I do eat healthy too! I have never cooked collard greens before but I got some from LPO (Los Poblanos Oraganics food delivery) and read up about them in my favorite vegetable cook book.

*Stuffed Pork-Chops, stuffed with spinach, sun dried tomatos, feta, cream cheese and lemon and garlic.. cooked this for my dinner group but made it again a week later with just a little less spinach and it was even better! John especially LOVES this.. and the chops are broiled and trimmed.. so pretty healthy (got it out of a "Cooking Light" cook book actually)

Speaking of John.. those who know him know of his love for Star Wars.. when I was buying the vanilla bean paste I found these pancake molds and HAD to get them.. I couldn't wait until Father's Day to show them to him so I made the yoda out of my favorite spinach puree egg recipe found in Jessica Seinfeld's Cookbook.. I just had to make him green!

Here's the Father's Day brunch we had.. notice the cream and rasberry syrup.. Emma just wanted cream.. This is Yoda, a storm trooper, and Darth Vader.. It really was great. John found some great music online for us to listen to while we ate. Rage Against the Machine did a great cover of the Imperial March that I really enjoyed.. :)

John is SUCH a great dad. He is gone a lot at school and studying and scouts and when he's home he has to study and sleep most of the few hours he's here but he always (right before bed-time actually) has Emma rolling laughing and giggling and running around having the time of her life. She LOVES her daddy. She hates it when he leaves and is so happy when he comes home. She actually just started calling him John sometimes.. So funny to me because I'm sure she just picked that up from me calling him John (though I don't think she knows my name.. I'm just Mommy or Mamma, sometimes Mom), but John has always called his parents Ron and Nancy- not Dad and Mom..Daughter like Father I guess. I got him the book "Strong Fathers Strong Daughters" for Father's Day and he is doing a serious read of it and is already trying to be better in everyway he can. I am so lucky to have him and our kids are super blessed!

*Beer Shampoo, Okay.. I know, may sound wierd but it's really good for your hair and I used to have a shampoo that I loved that had beer.. parts in it and decided to try my own.. It's out of reduced beer (I actually read beer reviews to find one with a lot of Hops, good for the hair, but didn't smell strong because I HATE the smell of it), Raw Honey, Castile Soap and a little water... this concoction is not what I was looking for, but I'm going to use it up and try another recipe soon.. I also ordered some commercial shampoo's with beer in it. I hope I like them!

Emma Jane likes to be in the kitchen with me and help us eat all these yummy things!

Emma Jane's real birthday party May 22nd

I am back-tracking now since I haven't blogged in over a month! (It's been a busy one for sure.. )
We made it up to Vallecito, CO to the cabin for Emma's actual 2 year birthday. We were there for her one year also- it really is the best place for her birthday parties! We all LOVE it there so much and it's the perfect time to go and open it up. We met Nancy, Kenny, and some of the Palmers (Larry, Ann, Camera, Johnathan and Kami and their kids). We did a lot of good deep cleaning and some work on the pump to get it ready for the summer. It felt great to be back..

I made her another birthday cake to bring up and share with everyone- and to make sure she got to blow out candles on her actual birth day (the song and candles are her favorite part!)
This was my first attempt at fondant. It's sure not perfect..and got a little damaged from the trip.. but it wasn't too hard and I had a good time doing it.. I think I'll do it some more! The chocolate cake and buttercream frosting under the fondant was the best though!
Emma had a blast with the Palmer kids.. especially Ellie.. she's just 6 months older than Emma. They were so cute together.

They were also good helpers cleaning up with the brooms..

We threw rocks in the lake both mornings we were there. Emma and John loved it. Emma threw mostly with her left hand on Saturday, and switched to the right on Sunday.. She may be ambidextrous! On Sunday morning the water was a good 4-6 inches higher than the day before!As Papa used to say, I think they filled up the lake with all the rocks they threw in! Max came Sunday morning and impressed us with his rock-skipping skills (and long flowing hair :). John is a polar bear and went for a short swim Sunday morning. I got a good video of it.. but I'll keep that for us. :)

No kayaking this time- but she sure loved playing in it. I also brought some punch balloons and bubble makers that all the kids had a blast with.

Nanny and Grumps!

We love you cabin! Hope to see you soon! (We're actually going there for the 4th, and hopefully right after the baby is born for John's paternity leave..)

The party never stops though! We had a little birthday party at Ron's house Sunday night and we had a fun package at home waiting for us from my mom with some cute outfits and jewels and awesome light-up jellies!

My mom also made a sweet card for her.
The party still never stops...She just got a belated birthday package from my dad YESTERDAY! :) Now she really is a two year old.. and soon to be a big sister!!

* Emma's favorite foods: Milk, she asks for chocolate milk sometimes but usually calls it "sugar", fruit snacks, cereal, tomatoes, chips, apples, ice-cream

*favorite toys: Fishy (her Little Mermaid babie), her stuffed Eyore, Piglet Pooh and Tigger, her

hard plastic zoo animals (Rarr is the lion, Raff is girraffe, seera is Zebra), swimming and playing in the sink washing dishes (she says water as "wak" for some reason), Movies (Veggie Tales.. which she calls "Bob", The Little Mermaid, Monsters Inc, Bugs Life to name a few), coloring, her kitchen and kitchen tools, books books books, the stroller and going on walks,

*favorite friends: Lana and Heath, Truman, Nanny and Grumps, Mama/Mommy and Daddy. She just started calling Daddy John every now and then.. I wonder where she got that from?

*favorite phrases: Emma loves to talk! She is very expressive and says a lot with her eyes and

face. She still babbles alot, but really can speak in full sentences and says new words everyday. She also LOVES to sing. She knows some of the alphabet song and loves itsy bitsy spider, let's clean up song, if you're happy and you know it, ring around the rosie, 3 little ducks... when she's tired she asks for a nap and still takes a good 1-3 hour nap most days. When hungry she says she wants a snack.. sometimes that means fruit snacks but mostly any food will do!

She is full of energy and loves to run around, make messes, and run from mommy and daddy trying to tickle her. We sure love her!!