oh happy day!

I feel very positive and motivated this morning. I think it's because when I woke up it was warm, and the sun was glinting off of everything and casting a golden hue over the yard. Sigh. So lovely. I tried to go outside and take an artful picture, but a photographer I am not. Here is a shot of a mossy rock that looks deceivingly like a mountainside spotted with little clusters of trees.  wow! ha! ha! I know, it's a stretch, but I'm trying to post everyday, so this is what you get! ;)

 And here are the remnants of my motivated morning breakfast...Around this Easter-y time of year, I always recall the delights of eating a softboiled egg with toast points and marmalade. yum! I would still like to try to make my own Meyer Lemon with Vanilla Bean Marmalade . I wonder if Meyer Lemons  are still in the stores around here? I know you only get a short window in which to purchase the yummy little things.

 

Well, I'm off to try to get things done on this pretty golden morning!! 

 

tummy time

Here is a funny little scene...I caught Clara giving her bear some tummy time. I thought it was pretty cute.

That is a bear that I was going to sell, but Clara made off with him before he was finished. His new name is "baby bear."  This is why it is difficult to ever get any animals made; they are confiscated!

cake of my dreams

So, I obsessed over the banana cake, the cake of my dreams.  I suddenly realized that I might be dreaming of an Entenmann's cake. After research, I discovered that they make a banana crunch cake. Jay swears this is what I am thinking of, but, I had a very specific memory of eating this cake of my dreams. So here is what I made. It is by no means extraordinary in any way. but it is pretty yummy. And you know when you have a craving for something, and you just can't stop thinking about it...

Here it is after it has been dug out of the pan

  

And here is the recipe, which I got from the old standby, the Betty Crocker cookbook, which most of my mother's recipes came from when I was growing up.

 

I made it in a 9" pan, added 1 tsp of vanilla.

 And then I frosted it with the chocolate frosting my mom always made.

"PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" CHOCOLATE FROSTING

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine
2/3 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency. Add small amount additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla. About 2 cups frosting.

Sprinkle it with pecans or walnuts, and done.

tales from the nursery....

The past few nights have been pretty rough around here. Needless to say, I am all tuckered out. I could really use a nap. Miss Lilli has decided that her crib is party central from 3 am -6 am.  Swaddles are being busted out of, arms are flailing and babies are shimmying all over the place.  It's the place to be. Unless you're me, and you want to be in dreamland, my only respite from mommy chaos. Sigh. Thank  goodness for my coffee maker, programmed for 7 am. I can sit bleary eyed and try to get prepared for my day before #1 wakes up, demanding her orange juice and mini pancakes.

My tiredness makes me want to give up any dieting efforts I have been attempting. I have been having this recurring dream about a really fluffy banana cake frosted with chocolate and sprinkled with walnuts. Sad to admit,m I do dream of food. Where did this cake come from? I swear I remember eating it in my youth, but my mom said she never made such a cake.  I will have to make an attempt, next time the bananas are past their prime.

 

    

Here is the only picture I took of our Irish feast. I made Martha's recipe for Soda Bread, and I baked it in a buttered, floured cast iron skillet.  It was pretty tasty. I left out the raisins and caraway seeds (yuck to both....totally not a fan of raisins in things...they're ok on their own, but not baked in bread and god forbid, in a salad or cooked up in some sort of savory dish...blech) I suppose Irish Soda bread is not the most exciting thing, but doesn't it look all pretty and shiny?

We went for our first Spring jaunt in the woods the other day. Here I am toting around a little sleepy bean...

  I have actually been getting a little bit of work done around here, despite the demands of the wee ones. It was so nice to be able to open up the house and do some felting while a nice warm breeze wafted in...I am sooooo much more productive and happy in this nice weather!

Speaking of wee ones who distract one from working...how can you resist this much cute?

 

 

still here!

Well, I am still here, despite a huge break in posting. Anyone who reads this knows I can't commit to consistent posting anyway. I make empty promises! I post for like a week straight and then disappear for 2 months. Sorry!!!

It has been a very quiet winter; days filled with mommy duties, trying to keep a toddler happy and tending to the needs of a tiny one. My biggest adventures have been to the grocery store and the library, and back home again. It is so easy to simply stay indoors when you have the excuse of a itty bitty baby, and the weather is frigid. Who wants to bundle everyone up and venture out if you can stay inside by the fireplace??

 

I read a million books and baked a ton of stuff (not so good for losing the post baby flub). I'll admit, it did get a little boring at times. I wasn't sure I could make it to Spring. And just a few days ago, when the weather had warmed a bit, and the snow in the back yard had finally disappeared, and the dangerous span of ice that puts visitors to our house in peril had finally melted, there was once again  snow on the horizon. Dang! It seemed that my hopes for Spring were dashed. BUT! Hopefully that storm was our last hurrah with Winter. I cannot wait to get these kiddies out in the warm sun. I want skirts and flip flops and farmers markets and gardening and all of that.  I need to get Clara to the playground and on the swings and digging in her sandbox and out feeding the ducks!  She has become something of a couch potato, so that's not so good. She has proved to be a lovely big sister, though, I must say and she is so sweet with Lillian and snuggles with her and tells her she loves her, and I witness her tickling toes and whispering tender little things. Too cute. 

It is amazing the changes that  have taken place from the time Clara turned two, until now, at 2 1/2. She has so very much to say, (constant chatter), sometimes the most hilarious things come out of her mouth. She is endlessly entertaining and engages in all kinds of elaborate pretend play, and throws all kinds of elaborate tantrums. But I am so surprised by her and the person she is becoming. And now I have two. I can't wait for them to play together and be best friends...oh geez, I am rambling on. OK!!  To summarize....kids are great. That's all I have to say. Oh, and Spring, get here already. I'm sick of waiting around.