Happy Valentine's Day

New York-Style Cheesecake Recipe

The Best Cheesecake with Graham Cracker Crust

Happy Valentine's Day! 

Did you have a wonderful day? I definitely did. There is just something about the day of love that makes everything exciting. 

I remember when I was a kid and we'd be super excited to get those little paper Valentines from all our friends in our class at school. Things are different now. The kids give each other candies or snacks with pinterest-worthy Valentine greetings attached to them. 

And can we talk for a second about the Valentine boxes that kids need every year? When did they start this? Every time I get on Facebook, I see these fancy handmade monster boxes or princess boxes or heart-shaped macrame boxes. This morning, Noah and I were sitting in the car drop off line and a mom was carrying her daughter's 3-foot tall glitter unicorn box into the school for her. This is insanity! Noah had a gift bag with hearts on it and his name in glitter letters and he was super happy with it. AND he could carry it to school all by himself. #winning

Anyway, I digress ... my Valentine's Day was good. My family got me some beautiful double delight roses. They are white with red tips and they look so fancy!

All the blooms are fresh and beautiful. They are on my kitchen counter right now, but I might have to move them into my office tomorrow so that I can enjoy them all day. I don't see why not!

I made a delicious dinner with cheesecake for dessert. Nanny came over and joined us and we had a good time talking and visiting. 

The cheesecake was really good tonight. I've used this cheesecake recipe a few times and it always turns out great. 

Yield: 1 9-inch cheesecakeAuthor: Jennifer SmithPin it

New-York Style Cheesecake

Cooking this cheesecake in a water bath will result in a beautiful, thick and creamy cheesecake with no cracks. Serve with cherry pie filling, chocolate sauce, or caramel sauce.

prep time: 30 MINScook time: 1 hour and 25 MINStotal time: 1 hours and 55 mins

ingredients:

For graham cracker crust

• 12 full sheets graham crackers
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup butter, melted

For cheesecake filling

• Four 8-ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 2/3 cups sugar
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
• 3 large eggs
• 3/4 cup heavy cream

instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F. Crush graham crackers (or use food processor), add sugar and melted butter. Mix together and press into 9-inch springform pan. Bake for 8-10 minutes, until crust is lightly browned. 
2. In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese, sugar, and cornstarch together on medium speed, about 3 minutes, scraping down the bowl several times. 
3. Add vanilla and eggs, mix well.  Add cream and mix until completely blended. Do not overmix! 
4. Increase oven temperature to 350°F. Wrap the bottom and sides of springform pan in foil. Pour batter into prepared crust. 
5. Place the foil-wrapped pan in a large shallow pan. Pour in hot water until it is about 1 inch up the side of the springform pan. Bake until light golden brown and the center barely jiggles, about 1 hour and 25 minutes. If the center still jiggles, bake an additional 5-10 minutes. 
6. Remove the cheesecake from the water bath, transfer to a wire rack, and let cool for 2 hours. Refrigerate at least 6 hours or overnight.

http://www.gracelikerainblog.com/2018/02/happy-valentines-day.html

What did you do special for Valentine's Day?

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Fall Adventure in Central Oklahoma

Noah wants to tell you about an adventure that we went on. The thing is that we went on this adventure back in the fall but I just never blogged about it until now. 

But, I'll give you a few hints ...

"Hey, gimme some of that!"

"Artistic Fish"

"Childhood nostalgia"

So, are you curious?

You can go to these posts to find out more:

• Fall Adventure in Central Oklahoma - Arbuckle Wilderness
• Fall Adventure in Central Oklahoma - Chickasaw Cultural Center
• Fall Adventure in Central Oklahoma - Toy and Action Figure Museum

Where should we go next?

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40 is the new 30

So, while I was away from the blog, I celebrated one of those milestone birthdays. Let me tell you, baby, age is just a number and it doesn't mean a thing at 40. 

We had some friends and family over for supper and I made this delicious tuxedo cake from Sally's Baking Addiction.  

Emily helped me decorate it. The inside is white chocolate ganache and the cake and frosting were both dark chocolate. 

It was really delicious - so much so that Mike requested it for his birthday too. We decorated his a little differently. He didn't want sprinkles and I don't blame him - the ones on my cake were really hard!

I got some new decor for my office for my birthday. I put them on top of my desk in my office. Not a great photo, but I just love my new vases and I'm very happy with the way they look on my desk. 

Here's to 40 more years!

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Someone was chosen as Student of the Week!

Happy Monday!

Noah is student of the week for his class! He brought home a bag on Friday that included instructions for the week.

We had to color and fill out a poster about Noah that will be displayed at school and he was recognized in their morning assembly this morning.

Tomorrow, he's going to share a book with the class. 

Later in the week, he gets to bring a snack for the class and everyone will write about Noah.  And another day I get to send a letter or story about Noah that will be read to the class.

It's going to be a fun week and I'm so excited for Noah.

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Adventures of Flat Stanley

Last fall, Noah's class did a series on Flat Stanley. Have you heard of him? He's a character from a children's book and a bulletin board fell on him squashing him to half an inch thick. From there, he gets rolled up, mailed off, and folded into a kite.

Noah created a paper cut-out of himself and sent Flat Stanley to Grandmother and Granddaddy's house for a grand adventure.

He visited the Arkansas State Capitol building in Little Rock.

He also spent the week of Thanksgiving down at the farm and hung out with the kids a lot. He got a few rides on the Ranger ATV and went on all the trails! 

He also got to ride in the pedal boat on the pond. Everybody has to wear a life jacket, including Flat Stanley. His was a zip-top baggie full of air.

He also went to the hospital to meet new baby cousin Stella when she was born. How lucky was he!

Grandmother and Granddaddy sent Flat Stanley back through the mail to our house so that he could go back to school. He'd written a letter about his adventure so that the class could learn about where he went. 

He went on a long adventure and learned a lot along the way. 

Noah's teacher shared Noah's Flat Stanley adventure with the class last week and then sent Flat Stanley home to stay. Maybe we need to go on more adventures with him?

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Staying Warm at the Movies

It was a very cold day, but we were warm and toasty inside at the movies this afternoon. We went to see The Greatest Showman, a musical about PT Barnum. 

I loved the movie and thought it was wonderful but I think Noah was a little bored. It probably didn't help that we went during his nap time. He was laying down in his chair pretty much the entire second half of the movie. 

I don't really blame him though because we were in a theater with the heated reclining seats. I used my coat for a blanket and had a nice, cozy time at the movie. 

On the way out, I snapped this selfie with one of the promo posters in the lobby. Pretty sure Emily was mortified. I wanted to get a pic with her in our reclining seats, but she declined. I guess it's just the age, right? 

At least I still have Noah. He'll still take a picture with me ... for now.

Have you seen The Greatest Showman? Thumbs up? Thumbs down? 

Have you ever sat in a heated recliner at a movie theater? 

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2018 Winter Olympics

Hey!  How are you? Has anybody been watching the Winter Olympics?

We've recorded the opening ceremony to watch with the kids and we watched some figure skating and skiing last night. I think international events like the Olympics offer a lot of opportunities to talk to the kids about things that are going on in the world or things that have happened in the past. Did you see that North and South Korea marched in the opening ceremony together? Hopefully that's a sign of peace between the nations.

I've been trying to think of some Olympic treats and snacks and crafts to do with the kids and my Sunday School kids.

Courtesy of the Candiquick Blog

I love these little snowman skiers for a cute kids craft/snack combo. I might have to pull that out for Sunday School in a week or two but I don't think I'd be able to let the kids put them together. I'd probably have to do it all in advance.

I think these cheetos torches are super cute, too. I think the kids would get a kick out of the ice cream cones and cheetos. But would they recognize a torch? Do kids even know what that is?

These Olympics cookies with M&M candies are really simple and fun. I think I could let the kids spread their own frosting and put the M&Ms on them.

What are you doing to celebrate the Olympic games this winter?


What's your favorite winter sport?

Any predictions on the USA medal count? In the 2014 Winter Olympics, USA had 28 medals. 

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Peter Pan Jr

This afternoon we went to the theater to see Mason perform in Peter Pan Jr. He was Captain Hook. Obviously!

I thought he did a great job and very much looked the part!

Noah LOVES going to plays. He sits perfectly still the entire time. Before the play starts and during intermission, he’s constantly asking me what time it is and how much longer until it starts. He keeps the program book in his lap the entire time and follows along with the scenes.

Maybe he wants to act someday? He’s already been in one play at school and he loved it.

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Fun at the Ball Game

I'm sorry I haven't been posting much lately. I get going and post a lot but I have a hard time keeping it up. I guess I don't feel like we do a whole lot that is exciting sometimes. But I know I need to write because the kids love seeing all the things we've done and the silly things they've said in the past.

This afternoon, we went out to an OU Women's Basketball game. Mike's boss's daughter plays for the Sooners and she had a really good game. She lead her team in scoring in their win.



Noah and Emily and I even made it onto the big screen at one point. Noah was acting shy and Emily was pretending she didn't know she was on there, so I just smiled and waved all by myself!


It was the Pink Out Game in support of cancer research. They had quite a few different things in honor of cancer survivors and the team wore pink.

At first, Noah was disappointed that we were on row 7 but once we got there he found out that he could see just fine from his seat.



The halftime show was some kind of crazy juggling unicycle riders. It was definitely entertaining although a bit odd!


You'll have to check back to see what fun things we're doing tomorrow.

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Fall Adventure in Central Oklahoma - Toy and Action Figure Museum

Our third and final stop on our Fall Adventure in Central Oklahoma was the Toy and Action Figure Museum in Purcell.  Now, this was a fun stop!  They have so many toys. Everywhere you look, there are toys stacked upon toys upon toys. It's amazing. 

Noah didn't know where to go or what to look at first. Most of the pictures I got of him were blurry because he was moving the entire time. They did have a section of toys that kids could play with though. Noah had a lot of fun in this area. 

It had costumes and cars and blocks and a "Batphone". It was all really cool. 

There were quite a few Lego toys, which was neat. They had the toys organized by themes.

I think Emily and I both agreed that we would have liked to see more girl toys. They had a few girl toys in one section, but the didn't have a lot of toys that I remembered from when I was a kid. 

They had a lot of Star Wars items and a lot of super heroes. They also had a whole area with an army men setup. 

I thought this was well-worth the stop for it's kid-appeal as well as nostalgia. 

Now, on to the next adventure!

Here are the other posts about our Fall Adventure in Central Oklahoma:
Part 1 - Arbuckle Wilderness
Part 2 - Chickasaw Cultural Center
Part 3 - Toy and Action Figure Museum

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Fall Adventure in Central Oklahoma - Chickasaw Cultural Center

Our second stop on our Fall Adventure in Central Oklahoma was the Chickasaw Cultural Center in Sulphur, Oklahoma. We'd never been here before, but they have a lot of Native American artifacts and art pieces. 

There were some exhibits that cost money to view and we did not go through any of those, but we went through the art exhibit and a few others. I thought the authentic Native American headdress was very neat to see. At certain times of the day, they have Native American dancing but we were there too late to witness it. 

In one area, they had a Lego Native American village set up. Noah though this area was really cool. It was a DO NOT TOUCH area though.

I tried to get a closer look at it. It was very detailed and cool. I think Noah was trying to get some ideas on how we could recreate this setup at home. 

They also had a nice pond with a water fountain in it. It had a couple docks in it and we went out to feed the fish. There were some huge catfish that came up to eat! I didn't get any pictures of the fish because I have this weird phobia that I will drop my phone into the water and it'll be gone for good. I wouldn't even get my phone out of my purse while we were out on the dock. That part was fun though. 

Here are the other posts about our Fall Adventure in Central Oklahoma:
Part 1 - Arbuckle Wilderness
Part 2 - Chickasaw Cultural Center
Part 3 - Toy and Action Figure Museum

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Fall Adventure in Central Oklahoma - Arbuckle Wilderness

We had a really fun weekend trip through Central Oklahoma.

When I woke up this morning, I told the kids that I'd had a dream that we were out in a boat fishing with Tyler and Carter and we were catching shoes instead of fish and we were eating Cheez-its. They thought this was hilarious.

So, late-morning we packed up a picnic lunch and got ready to go. We stopped by the 7-11 to pick up some drink then went and found a little lake to stop and eat our lunch. It was not much of a lake and the water was really dirty but when Mike and Emily opened the bag of drinks, we found that they'd gotten a bag of Cheez-its for each of us! I was so surprised and excited that my dream was coming true.

After lunch, we headed to Arbuckle Wilderness to feed the animals. We always enjoy doing this. We usually buy a big bag of feed and just start passing it out. 

They had a new baby llama on this trip. It was so cute! It was just sitting there so still. 

This kid here is pretty cute, but he tends to dump half of his cup of feed at a time. You can tell that he's really proud of himself!

The fall colors were really pretty. They had a lot of these bright yellow flowers that I just loved. 

The emu are always fun. They can be pretty aggressive at going after their food. I usually try to give them some but I only open the window a crack because I don't want them pecking me!

The donkeys are pretty crazy. Hey kids! This is what'll happen if you don't brush your teeth!

Emily's favorite animal is the giraffe. We couldn't get close enough to the giraffe to feed him this time, but we stopped to watching him for a minute. 

I think the zebras are pretty cool looking. 

And the camels are always fun. Emily fed this camel some food out of her cup and he jerked it out of her hand and threw it on the ground. Haha! I tried to get a picture of it but he was too close to the car. 

Next time, I'll be sharing the next stop on our adventure. Be sure to check back to see what we did next. 

Here are the other posts about our Fall Adventure in Central Oklahoma:
Part 1 - Arbuckle Wilderness
Part 2 - Chickasaw Cultural Center
Part 3 - Toy and Action Figure Museum

Read more »