Jill and Jonah at the Florida State Fair

Jill and Jonah holding the baby alligator

Jill was called up on stage to help in the alligator performance.

Bumper cars

Jill on the train

There is a very cute video of Jill on stage at the alligator show. I will post it when I can find it.

Aaron visits home, Jonah's latest activities

Aaron and Jaime. Aaron came home for a visit before returning to Ft. Hood and then to Kuwait.

Jonah at the computer writing an email to his Aunt Myra in Tennessee

Roger took Jonah out back to shoot his BB gun at targets in the (frozen) rubber tree plant.

Jonah got an "A" on his Magic Johnson project. He built a little basketball court inside a shoe box and put Magic's picture on the top.

I found Mia hiding in the closet. It was pitch black without the camera flash.

Tea party with Jaime, Mia and Aaron.

On Aaron's visit home they went to the gun range. (Jonah just spent his money to buy a BB gun which was definately NOT grandma's idea.) He promised to only shoot at targets, though.

Mia at the park.

Here are some pictures from Aaron's recent visit home. I added some of Jonah's and Mia's activities. What has Jill been up to? She is in an advanced reading group with Jonah's old teacher, Mrs. Goodknight. Also, Cory and Stephanie took them to the fair and Jill got to touch an alligator. I will post the video and get some Jill pictures from Stephanie's facebook. Jill has also been playing basketball at the park and is getting good at making free shots.

Valentine's Day

A husband who always remembers Valentine's Day. Priceless.

Crafting and Baking for Valentine's Day

Only a few pictures. Didn't get shots of it all, but there were paper hearts, store bought valentines, brownies, heart shaped cookies with icing and sprinkles. Even Jonah decorated a box and wrote out Valentines for all his classmates. It is also picture day so he is off to school with a red shirt on. He even took extra time to comb his hair. Roger and I plan to go out to dinner with Karin and Alan. Jaime will be celebrating after Valentine's Day when Aaron comes home for two days before heading to Kuwait. Happy Valentine's Day to us all!

Jaime's new haircut

Long layers and highlights. Took several hours, but worth it!

Super Bowl chocolate bread pudding

I was inspired by Blizzard Bread Pudding on Florida Girl in DC. Sounds lucious. Croissants and chocolate chips. I made a more simple version. I remember my grandmother bringing chocolate bread pudding to Thanksgiving dinner one time and teaching me how to made hard sauce which didn't seem like a sauce at all. I remember creaming butter and granulated sugar together. I think she flavored it with bourbon. Anyway, I used stale bread, cocoa, milk, eggs, white and brown sugar and a little coffee for flavoring. Cooking with cocoa reminds me of my mother. Another bread pudding memory is when I won THREE cakes at the school fair cake walk. I was so excited. There was so much cake that it got stale and my mother made bread pudding from the stale cakes -- coconut, chocolate marble and yellow cakes. I don't remember the cakes that much but the bread pudding was amazing.

The recipe I used was based loosely on the following (which I cut in half).

1 loaf of French or Italian bread cut into 1/2 - 3/4 inch cubes
3 cups whole milk
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup coffee flavored liqueur (I used strong coffee)
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 TBS. vanilla extract
2 TBS. almond extract (I omitted this)
6 eggs - slightly beaten
8 ounces semisweet chocolate - grated (Didn't have any handy)
whipped cream

Preheat oven to 325 F. Lightly grease a 13x9 inch baking dish. Whisk eggs, milk, cream and liqueur till well mixed. Combine sugars and cocoa powder and mix well. Add sugar mixture to milk mixture. Place cubed bread in baking dish and pour mixture over it. Let stand for about 20 minutes to absorb most of the liquid. Bake for 1 hour until an inserted knife comes out clean. Serve warm or chilled with whipped cream.

I added a sprinkling of chopped pecans on top. I still had to bake it for an hour even though it was in a 9 inch square dish. It was good.

We had fajitas made with sirloin steak and red, green and yellow peppers and onions for our Super Bowl dinner. I meant to take pictures, but we were hungry and I forgot.

Heartwarming

My big red pot with ham and cabbage in it this time.

Sometimes the heart needs warming. Sore throat, stuffy nose, damp, gray day, troubles on your door step. Yesterday I made New England Boiled Dinner. Big meaty ham bone, carrots, onions, potatoes and cabbage. It is a humble and rather unphotogenic meal, but it did warm the heart. The resulting pot liquor was steamy hot and pungent. I am always surprised by my vegetable-hating and especially cabbage-hating kids. They seem to go for the pot liquor and ham, potatoes and carrots even though they won't touch the cabbage. Mia especially loves the carrots. Roger and I devoured it and felt heartened by it. He is even learning to like cornbread muffins. I am happy to say that not one bite of that ham was wasted. I found a way to use it all.