Porter House

Emily's 1st Birthday!

We had a very impromptu family gathering for Emily's birthday last night at Justin's parents house.  We were just gonna do cake at our house, but Justin's mother invited us over.  She even ordered pizza! I have mentioned several times that I am not a cake decorator. Emily did get a delicious cake in her favorite flavor though. I made Cook's Illustrated dark chocolate cupcakes with their vanilla bean buttercream. I made Emily a 6-inch cake and the rest of us had cupcakes.

We had a busy morning getting Emily's pictures taken. I don't think I stopped moving all day.  I got some good pictures though. Even though Emily's hair was a little funny. :)

Notice her adorable shoes. They were a birthday present from Justin's mother. They are her first shoes, and she can actually walk in them. They make some good shoes at Robeez.

It took her about 20 minutes to get this far into her cake. In fact, I had to use a fork to break into the chocolate cake to get her eating it. Apparently she didn't want to get messy.

This was what she looked like afterwards though. Ha!

 

Birthday Measurements: 

Weight- 24.6 lbs

Height- 30 1/2 inches

White Chocolate & Sour Cherry Scones

I had to mention this awesome recipe I got from David Lebovitz's blog. I was excited when I saw the buckwheat flour and cornmeal.... but it was the white chocolate and sour cherries that sealed the deal. I had to make them. They were crazy good. I ate two immediately and I am contemplating a third. I love any recipe that throws in whole grains, and the cornmeal adds great texture.

I especially loved the crispy brown edges. You need to get to a health food store and pick up the buckwheat flour. You can also use it to make these fantastic buckwheat pancakes. Hopefully you already have some whole grain cornmeal on hand. Pick up some dried sour cherries from the raisin section of your grocery store, and some Callebaut or Lindt white chocolate there, too.

Are they worth all the running around? Yes! Buy extra ingredients...  You will want to make them again.

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I missed doing Ryan's height/weight chart while we were in Disney, so here it is. (This pic was taken on his birthday, outside Epcot.)

Ryan's height/weight at age 6: H- 47 1/2 inches W- 42.8 lbs.

Ryan with Santa

Kacey's 10th B-day: Height- 57" Weight- 84.4 pounds

A few pics from Ryan's party...

I was planning on making about 3 dozen adorable cupcakes, until Ryan told me, the day before his party, that he wanted a real cake instead. So I decided just to make the homely but delicious chocolate birthday cake I wrote about here. So excuse the less than perfect cake.

The kids still seemed to like it. My two batches of homemade vanilla ice cream had softened into vanilla soup. The kids drank it out of cups like there was no tomorrow. You gotta love kids, right.

I need to thank my sister for surreptitiously taking lots of pictures with my camera. I really appreciate it.

If I knew how to use your fancy D40, I would return the favor sometime.

Ryan's height at 5: 44 1/4 inches, Weight: 38.4 pounds

Kacey's 9th Birthday.

I do not like birthday cake. At least not what is most often thought of as birthday cake. Give me an interesting, beautiful, delicious alternative anytime. For my kids parties, I also want something fun. Alton Brown's recent marshmallow episode gave me an idea for these smore sandwiches. I didn't have a recipe so I was pleased when they turned out just like I had hoped. I made round graham cracker cookies. Then I piped on some homemade vanilla marshmallows creme before it set up. They were topped with another cookie and dipped in chocolate. Kacey was then set free with the sprinkles. I thought they were adorable. I made Kacey's a bit larger and cut out a hole in the middle for her candle.

Now for some pictures of Kacey. I took these before we left for the party.

I hate that I had to do red eye correction. It always makes your eyes look odd.

I cannot believe my girl is 9 years old. I love you, Kace.

Kacey's Height- 55 3/4 inches  Kacey's Weight- 74.4 lbs.