Little Train Engineer

Noah is becoming a very fun little train engineer. The Thomas the Train toy is one of his favorites. Check out this video and see how he pushes those buttons. He's so cute.

This is another little video clip of Noah doing a little train engineer dancing.

And what about this one? Every little engineer has to work on their engine every once in a while.

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Play Ball

Noah and I played catch tonight.

(Ignore my voice. I can hardly believe I sound like that.)

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First Grade

I had the privilege of taking Emily to her first day of First Grade this morning.

She wanted to wear her San Antonio T-Shirt this morning. And she wanted her hair in pigtails with her bow just a certain way.





When we got to school, her teacher and class had already gone down to the gym for the morning assembly.

So we walked down there to join her class. On the way, we saw Mason in his classroom.




And we stopped to snap a quick pic.




When we got to the gym, we saw Madison. She wanted to hold Noah for a minute. Noah was very interested in checking out all the kids.




Emily went to sit with her class. That's her friend Jaydon on her right. She was not unhappy to be there. She was just tired of getting her picture taken.




When I picked her up from school, she said her day was "great" and that she wanted to go back to school tomorrow.

She said that her class sat in a circle and passed a ball around and whoever has the ball has to say their name. Then they went around and said their last name. Then they went around and said their favorite color. She said her favorite color was purple.

It sounds like we are off to an excellent start to first grade.






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Spaghetti Rascal

Noah loves Mom's spaghetti.





He likes to make a huge mess of it.




But when he's done, he's done.





And he throws the rest on the floor.





Spaghetti Rascal!

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Meet The Teacher 2011

Tonight we headed over to the school to meet Emily's first grade teacher.






Emily had a teacher in mind that she wanted. We had been talking to her about how we don't get to pick our teachers and how God knows which teacher is best for Emily this year.

Well, Emily did not get the teacher she wanted. But she found out that a few of her friends were going to be in the same class she is in. So she was pretty excited.

Her teacher's name is Mrs. Weaver. She only has about 15 kids in her class this year. They also got a new smart board for their classroom this year. That's going to be very cool.

School Supplies

When my sister was here visiting the other week, she gave me a hard time because I ordered Emily's school supplies through the PTA. They sell a pack of everything on the school supply list for a set price. Heather said it takes the fun out of going back to school because you don't get to pick out all your fun supplies.

The school supply packs were supposed to be in the classroom tonight, but Emily's was not there. I asked the teacher and she said I would need to check with the PTA. The PTA said they did receive some extra packs that did not have names on them so they would need to sort it all out. They are supposed to call and let me know if they found Emily's supplies. If not, I guess we will be going shopping tomorrow night!!

I think next year we will be going shopping for supplies on our own.




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The Best Meal I Ever Ate - Part 2

On Sunday, I made the best Ice Cream I ever ate. It was Coconut Cream Ice Cream.




Ingredients:

• 2 large eggs


• 3/4 cup sugar


• 2 cups heavy or whipping cream


• 1 cup milk


• 1 can (15 oz) coconut cream, such as Coco Lopez

Whip the eggs until light and fluffy. Add in the sugar a little at a time and continue whipping until completely combined. Pour in the cream and the milk and the coconut cream and blend well.

I froze this in two batches. The ice cream freezer suggests that you only fill the container about 60% full. I did that with this recipe and it still made a full container of ice cream.

This recipe makes a very smooth and creamy ice cream. It froze very well and was just like eating premium ice cream, only better. The Coco Lopez has tiny bits of coconut in it. It's not like coconut flakes. Much smaller. So delicious.

I thought this recipe was not as sweet as some of the other recipes we have used and I liked that better. You can use this same base recipe without the coconut cream. I think next time I will make vanilla ice cream using this base recipe. Or maybe chocolate? The possibilities with this base are endless.

Everyone in my house agrees - this is the best ice cream we have ever eaten.


What is coconut cream? Where do you find it in the grocery store?

It's in the mixed drinks section. It is often used in pina coladas.







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The Best Meal I Ever Ate - Part 1

Yesterday afternoon, Mike made the best babyback ribs I ever ate.





He used the 2-2-1 Method.

First, he rubbed plain yellow mustard on the ribs and then sprinkled them with Head Country rub.

Then he put them in the smoker with some good old hickory wood at 225 degrees for two hours.

Next, he pulled the ribs out and wrapped them in foil and put them back into the smoker for another two hours.

After the two hours were up, he took them out and unwrapped them. And put them back in the smoker to firm up and get some of that good bark on it.

At the thirty minute mark, he basted the ribs with some Head Country BBQ sauce. Then we just had to wait for the ribs to be done.

And then they were done. And they were so good. They were just fall-off-the-bone tender and so tasty with the Head Country seasonings.

We inadvertently ate about a half rack that night. Then we shared another half rack tonight for supper.

Do you want to come over for some ribs? You're invited. (But call first! Haha.)

But just wait ... You haven't even heard what we had for Part 2. Mmmmmmm!



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Party Party

Yesterday, we went to Aunt Pat's birthday. We all met at a local Italian restaurant for lunch.





It took quite a long time to get our food, but we had a good time visiting. And the food was really good when it finally came.






I didn't get any pictures of the birthday girl. She was sitting way down at the other end of the table from where we were.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUNT PAT!!!!

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My Fave Summer Essential - Ice Cream!

The other week, we talked about one of the summer essentials -Watermelon. Now we are talking about another one - Ice Cream!





A few weeks ago, Mike ordered me an electric ice cream maker. It's a Whynter model that has a compressor in it. You don't have to freeze the bowl and it does not require ice or rock salt or anything.




You just pick your recipe, mix them up, and pour them into the mixing bowl. Then just set the timer and the waiting begins.

For most recipes, it takes about an hour to freeze. And a batch makes about 1.7 liters of ice cream. I'll do the conversion for you ... That's about a half gallon.

This ice cream machine makes a very rich and creamy ice cream. It almost does not have the consistency of the traditional homemade ice cream. It's much smoother and creamier.

I will post some of the recipes we have tried so far. Tonight, we made Coke Float Ice Cream. But ours was Pepsi Float Ice Cream. It turned out really good.

When the time ran out after 60 minutes, we each had a small bowl of ice cream even though it was not completely frozen. It was good, but it was not as creamy as some of the other recipes.

Since the batch was not completely frozen, we turned it on and let it run some more. After about 20 more minutes, it was so smooth and creamy. It was sooooo good!

Okay, okay here is the recipe:





2 cups sweetened condensed milk

2 large cans evaporated milk

1 pint milk (that's 2 cups)

Soda to fill the rest of the container

I halved this recipe so that it would fit in my ice cream freezer. I think I would have liked a little more Pepsi in it, but no more would fit. Maybe next time I will leave out some of the milk and add more Pepsi.

This is a very simple recipe, but it is very good.

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Happy 1st Birthday, Noah!

Yesterday was Noah's first birthday. We had his birthday party over at Nanny and Poppa's house on Saturday afternoon. A lot of our friends and family joined us to celebrate our little man.

We had a pizza party and lots of fresh fruits and veggies too. Then we had cake and ice cream and sugar cookies.

The cake was a marble cake made by our favorite local bakery. A few weeks ago, we took them one of the paper plates in the cowboy party theme and asked them to design a cake around it. On Saturday morning, Mike went to pick up the cake. While he was gone, I got a text from him that said "Cake looks awesome." And when he finally got home with it, he was so right. The cake was awesome!!!!!!!! I think the bakery did a phenomenal job on Noah's cake.

Here's a picture. Don't you think so???





So besides doing a good job on how the cake looks, they also did a great job on how the cake tastes. Noah had his own small cake that he got to dig into. And he really enjoyed that.

He got that cake in front of him and he pretty much knew exactly what to do. He just dug in with his hands and he ended up eating a lot more than anyone expected.






He was so sleepy by the time he started eating his cake, but he still did a good job. He was still sweet even when he was sleepy.






He also had lots and lots of presents to open. He got many new toys and some cute new clothes too. We have already played with all of his new toys.

I think one of his favorite toys is a little kid-powered ride-on car. It's perfectly sized for him. So far, he has only figured out how to make it go backwards though. This evening, I was pushing him across the living room and then he would scoooooot back to me for another ride.

Here's a little video clip.

I want to thank everyone who came to Noah's birthday party, especially the out of town guests who traveled to be with us. We had such a good time and enjoyed seeing all of you.

I'll try to get Noah's 12-month post up sometime later this week.

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One of the Summer Essentials

Watermelon!!!!!




Noah eats most everything but he certainly loves his watermelon. I don't blame him. It's some good stuff!


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