What do you do...

when your baby is pushing 16 pounds at his 4-month Doctor's appointment AND he tries to intercept his Daddy's fork at the dinner table each time it passes him by?

Well, with Dr. Brown's approval, we introduced the little chunk to rice cereal.

Like, gag me with a spoon, Mom!


On second thought, I think I'm much better at gagging myself with that thing than you are!


Actually, that stuff's kinda good!

Now bring on the strained peas, Mama!!

Children's Museum

About a month ago, I took A & M on a preschool outing to a nearby children's museum. The place was impressive...a real catalyst for the expression of childhood creativity. I really enjoyed watching my little ones playing there, but quickly regretted the fact that i'd left my camera at home. That coupled with their success at turning the J-man green with envy resulted in a return trip yesterday.


Autumn donning one of many, many costumes lying about in the museum.

This was a room left unexplored on our previous visit. A miniature pediatrician's office...complete with babies in isolettes, doctor's instruments, x-ray light table, baby scale, and other goodies.
Autumn with a friend she quickly made, then followed around for the majority of our visit. She had a hard enough time climbing the stone; forget about pulling out the sword!!

Micah exploring a spider's leg in the jumbo microscope.

Autumn ringing up her veggie garden sales.

Jonah & Clint's favorite part of the museum

Autumn putting on a puppet show with one of several princess puppets.

Well, we only got to show you about 1/20th of the museum. But don't worry...i'm sure we'll be back another day, and maybe i'll even remember my camera! :)

*If you decide to go, make sure to print out this coupon!

Christmas Brownies

These were a big hit at my book club last week, where we do an annual cookie exchange. I have to admit they were pretty yummy, although i should've taken a picture of the plate i brought to the exchange. These were the least attractive ones, but still very delicious! Anyway, here's the recipe:

Peppermint-topped brownies
prep & cook time: 2-1/2 hours, plus at least 3 hrs. to chill (though i only chilled mine 1-1/2 hrs)
makes: about 25 brownies

10 T butter, plus more for pan
6 oz. good-quality bittersweet chocolate, broken into large chunks (i used Ghiradelli)
3 eggs
1-1/2 c. sugar
1 T. vanilla
1/4 t. salt
1 c. flour
1/2 c. cocoa powder
1/2 t. baking powder
80 hard, round, red-and-white peppermint swirl candies
1/2 lb. semisweet chocolate, chopped (semisweet chocolate chips work just fine here)
1 c. whipping cream (i'm slightly embarrassed to admit i used thawed cool whip, which made a delicious ganache...but because it was already whipped up, i used about 2 cups of it)

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Butter a 9- by 13-in. baking pan. In a medium saucepan, stir butter and bittersweet chocolate over very low heat with a heatproof rubber spatula until just melted (do not let simmer or boil). Remove from heat and let cool slightly, about 5 minutes.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, sugar, vanilla, and salt. Slowly pour chocolate-butter mixture into egg mixture, whisking constantly. Into a separate bowl, sift flour, cocoa powder, and baking powder, then whisk together. With a clean rubber spatula, gently fold flour mixture into egg mixture until just combined.

3. Spread batter evenly in the baking pan. Bake 20 to 30 minutes, or until brownies are firm, beginning to pull away from sides of pan, and a toothpick inserted in center emerges with only a few crumbs clinging to it. Let brownies cool completely in the pan on a wire rack.

4. Reduce oven temperature to 300°. Line a level, rimmed 11 1/2- by 16-in. baking sheet with parchment. With a pencil, draw a grid of 1 3/4-in. squares on parchment (5 rows of 8), leaving about a 1-in. border, and turn parchment over. Place a mint in the center of each square. Bake 15 to 25 minutes, or until completely melted into 1 large sheet, but remove before candy begins to turn yellow. Immediately score peppermint squares with a pizza cutter, using pencil lines as your guide. If scored lines don't hold, rescore quickly. Let candy cool completely. Gently break into squares along score lines. Arrange, bake, and score remaining 40 candies the same way (you'll have extra squares; pick the prettiest; or you'll ruin the first batch and then use the second bag...my oven liked 325 degrees for 20 minutes).

5. In the top of a double boiler or a metal bowl set over simmering water, combine chopped semisweet chocolate and whipping cream. Cook, stirring often, until melted and blended. Remove from heat and let ganache cool until just warm.

6. Pour ganache over cooled brownies in pan and allow to set until firm, about 2 hours at room temperature or 1 hour in the refrigerator.

7. Place peppermint squares bottom side up on ganache, leaving enough room between squares to cut brownies. Cut brownies into squares along edges of peppermint tops, wiping knife clean between cuts. Remove brownies from pan, discard (or eat) scraps, and return brownies to pan. Cover with plastic wrap, making sure wrap does not touch peppermint, and refrigerate 3 hours (to soften candy a bit). Serve slightly chilled.

At Long Last...The Nursery

He shares a room with Autumn, who is ELATED to finally have a roomie!! It was finished before Gabriel was even born, but i just barely got around to taking pictures of it today...


The outfits hanging above the beds are the ones they wore when they received a name and a blessing from Clint.

i lined the curtains with black-out lining (you can buy it by the yard at Joann's), and you can see i cut the right side a bit short, but it still blocks out plenty of light during beloved nap time!!
The funny thing about the bunny picture is that i didn't realize it would be so big!! i bought it, along with Gabe's bedding, on ebay and neglected to check the dimensions of the artwork (they came together). Anyway, when the package came, i thought the seller must be a nut to have shipped it in such a HUGE box. Well, one of us may be nuts, but it wasn't the seller!!

A rocking chair Mom rocked me in (dated, but sentimental).



Autumn's side, complete with more of her baby outfits.


The drawer pulls cost me twice as much as the dresser, a $7 garage sale find. It's a sturdy little piece that makes me smile.




My VERY favorite part of the nursery (besides the baby & the little girl, that is!). This used to hang in my baby brother's nursery. I used to rock him and sing this little saying over and over again. Now, it helps me maintain perspective each time we bring a new bundle of love into our home. The cleaning and scrubbing really does wait, and i'm SOOO glad for the reminder that helps me to let it. i can't believe 3-1/2 months have already flown by since little baby Gabriel was born. i know he'll become less dependent on me in the coming years, we'll get rid of all the baby paraphernalia, and i'll have plenty of time to clean and de-clutter my home!

You made it through this monster of a post...congrats!!

Happy Gabe & Jonah

in the middle of peek-a-boo...his belly laugh is adorable!!

silly Jonah...he got in on the ice skating action after we picked him up from school. And i had to add the picture, since he was feeling left out of the blog!

Wintry Preschool Fun

What do 2 preschoolers*, 4 small pieces of wax paper, 1 ipod playing Christmas music and 1 carpeted living room add up to??


...an indoor ice skating rink!


They had fun trying out this preschool activity this morning; i have to admit i did, too! i had my shoes on, and this seemed to be slightly more slippery than remaining bare-foot. As i didn't want to be responsible for any broken limbs, i kept the secret to myself (until now.) :) Happy Winter!!

*costumes optional

All bundled up

Look at those cheeks!

Happy 3 months, Gabe! (plus a week)