Just a Swingin!

Here are our babies when they were both around 7 months old on the swings at the park. Both with the open mouth smiles! Brian was almost 7 months in his picture which explains why he's not really sitting up and Emy was almost 8 months in her picture.

Random December

Pictures from december....

Emily on Santa's lap at our Squadron kids Christmas party. Brian, for the first time ever would have nothing to do with Santa! Wouldn't even stand next to him for the picture. Glad we didn't wait in line at the mall!

The kids at our squadron kids Christmas party

Emy cruising

and crawling

and having to be contained with a baby gate so she won't eat the dog's food

Steve and I at one of two squadron Christmas parties

Picnic at the park

A New Year's Resolution

So I've gotten behind again on this blog! I just can't seem to find the time. Although I didn't make any New Year's resolutions at the stroke of midnight twenty days ago, I am making one now to be better about updating the blog. I was busy. With Christmas and present making, buying and wrapping, card sending, travel planning. Feeding bottles, spoonfuls of baby food, cleaning up spoonfuls of baby food spat back in my face. But, no more excuses, I resolve to update the blog more! Starting today-ish, I will post some pictures of the family and our adventures from the holidays and then I will do my best to keep the momentum of posts going!

Here are some family jet pictures so this post has some substance. I honestly can't remember when these were taken....November? December? Must be November because they were ready for use on our annual holiday card.

Emily, 7 months

Brian 3 and 3/4 years

Hot Buttered Rum

So while I'm not much of a drinker (I only drink heavily on days ending in "y") this particular hot toddy is a sentimental one. Way back during our first operational assignment to Spangdahlem Air Base in Germany, we were assigned to the 22nd FS (a squadron that sadly no longer exists) and we shared many good times with our fellow Stingers. One said good time was our annual wives holiday bazaar fundraiser where we would slave over our kitchen aid mixers producing hot buttered batter to sell each year at the base's holiday bazaar. Vendors come from all over Europe to sell their wares at the giant holiday bazaar. It was great shopping and great fun selling our hot buttered beverage each year with the wives. I miss it dearly and day dream regularly about going back!

We made two kinds of hot buttered rum, (sadly neither with actual rum because we lacked a liquor license) one was the "ready mix" kind and we would serve up hot on the spot, and the other, a jarred version that you could mix up yourself at home and it was awful! I didn't bother writing down the jarred recipe, but below is the ready mix recipe. I've altered it slightly, mostly just made a smaller amount because the original recipe was a mass produced version that would fill a large rubbermaid container! I consulted my resident alcoholic as to what kind of rum I would need, Hot Buttered Malibu didn't sound right, I like my malibu with pineapple juice and grenadine anyways. Steve told me to look for a dark, rich rum. So off to the store I went to get the ingredients and be horrified when the cashier didn't even card me for my rum purchase! I ended up with Bacardi Gold Rum. A taste test of the final product won me many praises from Steve so I must have gotten the recipe right! Here is what you'll need:

Stinger "Ready Mix" Hot Buttered Rum

4 Sticks of Butter

16 oz (one box) of Brown Sugar

32 oz bag of Powdered Sugar

2 oz Imitation Rum

2 tsp ground Cinnamon

1 tsp ground Nutmeg

1/2 Gallon of Vanilla Ice Cream, softened

Cool Whip or Whipped Cream topping

Lots and lots of Bicardo Gold Rum

Melt the butter in a large pan on the stovetop over low heat. I mean large, like a stock pot if you have one. Once the butter is melted, stir in both kinds of sugar. I didn't use the entire bag of the powdered sugar, maybe about 2/3 of the bag. I used my hand held mixer here because I have no patience. Once the butter and sugar are well mixed, add the imitation rum and spices. Add more or less imitation rum/spices to taste, but I find this recipe just perfect. Remove from heat. Allow to cool for a few minutes so when you add the ice cream it doesn't just melt immediately. This is when I took baby girl upstairs for bath and bedtime, a process that takes about 20 minutes (25 on a squirmy night) and then returned to the recipe. Once the mixture has cooled a little bit, add the softened ice cream and mix until well combined. Package mixture into freezer bags or tupperware containers and freeze until you plan on using it. You can keep it frozen for 3 months. When you are ready to use it, set out the mixture an hour or so before to soften it and make it easier to scoop. Combine about a 1/2 cup of the mixture with a 1/2 cup of boiling water in a mug, add more or less mixture to taste. I find a 1:1 ratio of the mixture to boiling water is perfect. If it's five o'clock somewhere on a day ending in "y" toss in a shot of Bicardi Dark Rum (or two shots, if the day has been particularly strong.) Top with cool whip or whipped cream and a sprinkle of nutmeg. The drink is also very delicious without the alcohol but that's really no fun and my kids seem less whiney after I've tossed a few back. Enjoy!

Family and Emily 6 Month Photoshoot

At the beginning of the month, we had some family pictures taken by my friend Katie Lacy (click on her name to go to her photography blog). We got alot of good ones of Emily for her 6-month-old photoshoot and I would have liked a few more family ones but Brian was being a pill and is in the throws of a complete picture taking boycott. We had candy at the ready for bribery but even that didn't do much. We have another family photoshoot this weekend with the jet and I'm at a complete loss for how to get Brian to smile for the camera. I might have to settle for looking in the direction of the camera without wiggling and an only slight look of disguist. Given how bad Brian was, Katie still got some great shots, even a few of Brian smiling and some adorable ones of the little miss.

My favorite is a tie between this one above...

...and this one! Can you tell I love all the pink and frill?! I'm actually envious of her adorable little skirt and am wondering if they make them in my size? I'm weird.

Will Crawl for Cupcakes!

This afternoon Emily and Brian were playing happily with some "new old" baby toys that had been in storage in the garage that I finally got around to breaking out. Emily has been sitting up really well on her own the last few days and I wanted to capture some pictures of our newly upright girl, so I broke out the camera.

And of course the little ham saw the flash go off once and got down on the floor to give me her best angle. She loves the flash and smiles at it, perfect for picture taking. So I didn't have much luck getting sitting pictures, but all of a sudden she starting crawling towards Brian and I!

Brian was playing with a box of cake mix that he wanted to make later so he set it a few feet in front of her and....

....BAM! She was like "Well, I'll crawl for some cake!" and off she went like a bat out of hell!

Well, maybe not a bat out of hell, more like a slow crawling 6-month-old but I'm sure the "bat out of hell" crawling isn't far away. Every time she would get to the cake mix, Brian would move it back a few feet. She got 3/4 of the way around the coffee table and then lost interest. And by lost interest, I mean she sat up, was startled by her brother's excitement, and fell backwards, hitting her head on the floor.

But in the end, I did get a few sitting shots with her crawl-session spoils.

Like Mother, like Daughter

Brian and Emily at 6 months

Here are both our babies at around 6 months. I love that they share the super happy open mouth smile. Daddy is the best at getting these particular smiles to come out. Okay, I'm not even sure why I added their names, as if you would think the baby in purple wearing a hairbow was Brian. I think Emy actually has three parents: Mommy, Daddy, and Casper the friendly ghost. We are getting that girl out in the sun next summer for sure!