Cute as a Bug!

On Saturday my cousins, my mom's first cousins, hosted a shower for the Baby Bug in Bay City. Mary, Betty, Debbie & Linda did a wonderful job and we all had a great time! I had to post the picture of the cake. It is just about the cutest cake I've ever seen.

Thank you ladies for a wonderful afternoon!

Fat and Sassy!

So there have been many requests for a photo of prego me. I think it's funny how our mind can fool us. I don't feel like a big pregnant person. I see pictures of other women due around the same time I am and I think to myself, "oh my, she is huge! So glad I don't look like that!" And then I see this... Wow, have I blossomed or what?

As much as I have struggled with my weight over the years this is totally worth it! I have learned to embrace the moon pie face and budda belly! Besides, I love to eat and food just tastes so much better these days. I'll enjoy it while I can - 8 to 9 more weeks to go before Baby Bug greets us all.

lemon cheesecake squares

Scott loves anything lemon or raspberry. He's been very patient will all the chocolate things I've been making lately. So for the 4th, I made him these lemon cheesecake squares from Martha Stewart. They are very yummy and very easy to make. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:

Makes 16

FOR THE CRUST:
8 graham crackers (each 2 1/2 by 5 inches)
2 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

FOR THE FILLING:
2 bars (8 ounces each) cream cheese, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs
Finely grated zest and juice of 1 lemon (2 to 3 teaspoons zest and about 3 tablespoons juice)

Directions
Make the crust: Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line bottom and sides of an 8-inch square baking pan with aluminum foil, leaving an overhang on all sides. Crimp overhang under rim of pan.
In a food processor, blend graham crackers with sugar until finely ground; add butter and pulse until moistened.
Transfer crumb mixture to prepared pan, and pat in gently (wipe processor bowl clean, and reserve for making filling). Bake until beginning to brown, 10 to 12 minutes. While crust is baking, make filling.
Make the filling: Place cream cheese in food processor; blend until smooth. Add sugar, eggs, lemon zest, and lemon juice; blend until smooth.
Pour mixture onto hot crust in pan; smooth top. Return to oven, and bake until set (filling should jiggle only slightly when pan is gently shaken), 30 to 35 minutes.
Cool completely in pan. Cover very loosely with plastic wrap; chill until firm, at least 2 hours (and up to 2 days). Use foil overhang to lift cheesecake out of pan. With metal spatula, lift cheesecake from foil; cut into 16 squares.

I used salted butter for the crust (it's what I had) and it was still yummy!

Redemption

I have to redeem myself...this is a picture from last year of a gorgeous and yummy chocolate pie I made. Let's forget about the cake disaster even if it did taste sooo good. But back to the chocolate pie. This pie is highly sought after at all family gatherings. My mother once made 50 mini pies for a family gathering so that everyone could have their own pie.

Here's the Chocolate Pie recipe. It was my grandmother's...it may have even been her mother's recipe. I'll have to check on that.

Set aside in a bowl: 1 cup sugar

1/4 cup flour

1/4 cup cocoa

1/4 tsp/dash of salt

if lumpy make sure you sift

separate 4 eggs - whites go in separate mixing bowl

In a saucepan:

4 yolks - beat til creamy

stir in 2 cups of milk and put on medium/medium-high heat

stir constantly until mixed

pour in dry ingredients

stir while cooking until it boils for about 5-10 minutes, it should get thick

add 1/4 stick of unsalted butter

1Tbs of vanilla

stir until the butter melts and pour into a pre-baked pie crust

for the meringue: beat reserved egg whites 1/2 way until they are foamy

sprinkle in 4-5 Tbs or 1/4 cup of sugar

beat until peaks begin to form

spread over pie

(be sure your meringue is touching all sides of the pie crust, this will keep it from shrinking in the oven)

bake in a 400 degree oven (you must watch the pie at this point)

take out of oven once the meringue has browned.

The Ultimate Cake Disaster!!!

I had the bright idea of baking a cake today...not a real, made-from-scratch cake, just a boxed mix that's been in the pantry for I don't know how long. I'm pregnant, I had a craving. I thought I'd use the 9" circle pans that I received as a wedding gift last year. I've never made a layer cake and I thought might as well try with the boxed mix. If you've ever made a layered cake you know that you are supposed to even out/level the layers before stacking. But for some brilliant reason I thought, eh, it will be fine; it's not that bad. Well, here is the result. Beautiful, yes?

I have laughed all afternoon about this. Every time I walk into the kitchen another piece has cracked or has slid off. I tried helping it out with the plastic knives. I looked for toothpicks so they wouldn't show but we didn't have any. The only things I could find that would be light enough were the plastic knives. Poor cake. Poor Scott, he's so lucky to have married Suzy Homemaker! He's not home yet so he hasn't seen it. It'll be a good laugh!

I was going to hide this from everyone but my mom convinced me to archive this gorgeous cake. Thanks mom for encouraging self-humiliation and a really amusing afternoon.

the little graduate

Last week my nephew, Paris, graduated from kindergarten. He was so excited! All the kids would sing a couple of songs and then the graduates would take turns sharing something they wrote or a book they could read. Paris wrote a few of letters to the first graders about what he had learned in school. My favorite part was when Paris wrote how much his teachers would miss him. It was really funny because all the kiddos before him would say how much they would miss their friends and teachers. Not Paris, he knows that they will miss him. He is such a cutie!

Ava, Paris' sister, my niece, also goes to school there and was part of the singing group. She just about stole the show! She will be the next American Idol! Ava loves music and gets so into singing and dancing. I wish a had a good photo of this. She had everyone in stitches. Here she is anyway, singing a Japanese song with two other kiddos from her class. Ava is on the right in the flower print dress.

I can't wait to see them this weekend. We will be at a family reunion. I'll have to post more about them next week. BTW, Betty, this post is for you! I will work on posting more often :-)

Half-Way Cooked

Head and shoulder shot...no peeking at the "specialized" parts.

It's hard to believe that we are half-way through cookin' the baby bug! (The picture is from last month so it's not half-way done there) I have finally started feeling little bumps and bubbles of the baby dancing around. It's a little alien-like having something moving inside you. It freaks me out every once in a while that there is a living person inside of me. Anyway, I am feeling great and getting bigger every week. There is definitely no hiding the baby bump these days.

We are not finding out the sex of the baby which I'm finding out does not make people very happy. It does make it a little more difficult to shop early (too much yellow!!!) and to even pick out nursery furniture but I have had the delivery image in my head for so long...I want to hear the doctor say, "it's a boy!" or "it's a girl!" for the first time after the baby is here. There are too few surprises in the world these days and this seems like the best surprise you could ask for. And luckily I have an incredible husband that is supporting my wish!

Mr. Boo ate what?!?

If you can't tell from the picture that's a sewing needle in the tube. I just picked Boo up from the vet. He had exploratory surgery yesterday evening. This is long and at times it reads like CSI (maybe not as exciting but CSI-like no less)



Saturday Scott had to go to the office so I decide to let the cats back in the office while I work on report cards so they don't get lonely (or really so I don't get lonely). Well Boo heads straight for my thread box. He starts chewing on something and I rush over there to yank it from his mouth. Boo of course runs away and starts yacking in the hall. Nothing comes up. At this point I am assuming it's thread and he has swallowed it all but I take a look in his mouth anyway. There is nothing in there. But Boo keeps freaking out. I've never seen him hop backwards while he throws up. In fact I've just never seen him hop backwards at all. This goes on for about 15 minutes. Keep in mind I still think it's thread. He finally calms down and so I think he is going to be fine. Boy was I wrong. By 3:30 I've talked to people at the animal hospital, Scott gets home and we are on our way. Boo is gagging and very uncomfortable.


We finally get to the hospital and the doctor does and x-ray of his abdomen. He doesn't see anything weird but knows that something just isn't right. He wants to keep Boo overnight for observation. We decline knowing that Boo would not do well overnight in the hospital. They give him fluids and a shot for the vomiting and give us a laundry list of symptoms to be on the look out for.


At home Boo settles back in and wants to play a little but is still retching every once in while. Sunday is more of the same. He seems better because he wants to play but something still isn't right. Plus he won't eat or drink. Well, he tried to eat but was very unsuccessful.


Monday Scott takes Boo to our regular vet on his lunch hour. I get a phone call about an hour later. Apparently Dr. Tlica has found some bruising under his tongue; evidence that something, perhaps thread, was caught around the tongue and caused trauma. She names a few options for us to think about all of which was done while I am trying to teach 21 crazy first graders. I finally tell her I must see her in person and would be there in an hour.


After talking with the doctor, who by the way I adore, she was so awesome and down to earth, we decide on exploratory surgery to check out Boo's intestines to see if there is an obstruction or bleeding from the thread. Two hours later she calls me and she says, "I have some good news and some bad news."


She didn't find anything wrong with his tummy parts (how awful do I feel now for agreeing to this procedure) however while she was sewing him back up she had an "epiphany" (her word). The bruising below the tongue was bothering her. She ordered an x-ray of Boo's head. Guess what she found? You can see it in the photo above. Boo had tried to eat the thread and instead got a horrid surprise. The needle was lodged under his tongue ALL THE WAY so that you could not even see it!!! POOR MR. BOO!!!




He is doing pretty well and is very happy now that he is home. He has lots of shaved spots and stitches but he is expected to make a full recovery! Meanwhile Lola is having a hissy fit because Boo smells weird and is getting most of the attention. She hides under the tables and stares at Boo and then eats. I think she needs treatment for her emotional eating.

The Baby Bug

We are having a little bug! We heard the heartbeat this morning at my 12 week check-up!!! It sounds like galloping horses. The ultra-sound pictures above were taken during last month's appointment. My doctor officially changed my due date today so now it's October 16th.

Happily Ever After...

I think I may be the luckiest girl in the world to have found Scott. He's the best thing that's ever happened to me. Happy Anniversary Babe! I love you, I love you, I love you!