My birthday was this past sunday and it was a great day. I've been wearing the great maternity clothes that my inlaws gave me earlier in the month which has been such a nice change! I've been enjoying my sunday birthday gifts of perfume and a great cake decorating kit from my wonderful husband! I'm also excited to get to use my new glue gun as I get ready to decorate the house for the upcoming holiday season!(I'm making what should turn out to be a fabulous wreath)
Today I gave in to the temptation that I've been fighting all week and used my cake kit for the first time. It was SO FUN!!! Still not perfect but for the first time with these particular techniques and tips I don't think it's too bad :)

Weekend Off!

Life has been pretty crazy lately and so Scott and I were both excited for a weekend off from life! Scott had a mandatory retreat for work over the weekend. Friday morning we drove the scenic route(aka long route) up to the Tifie Ranch because I was tired of driving on the freeway all the time and Scott humored me. The Tifie Ranch is part of a nonprofit group associated with Goal Zero (the company Scott works at). The ranch was amazing! It is all completely powered by solar, wind and hydroelectric. They have paintball, archery, shooting range, super close to the reservoir for boating, etc... You can stay in a room in the lodge(which we were lucky enough to score because of the little girl who's on her way to our family), in a small cabin, in a tepee or your own tent. Even the bathrooms out by the tepees were nicer than most that I've seen in people's homes. Definately not your normal camping experience.

For it being a required company retreat, it was super relaxed and fun. Taking a tour of the ranch and learning about it's self sufficiancy was the only part that seemed remotely required. Everyone played minute to win it games with some great Goal Zero prizes in the morning the rest of the day was full of haning out, going to the archery range, eating(of course!), roasting marshmallows for smores(gourmet s'mores with dove chocolate no less).

 

Throwing and catching LOTS of pencils! Scott did great!

Scott racing to drop different colored m&m's into different cups!

Scott trying  to jostle ping pong balls out of an empty tissue box!

                                                         The marshmallow roasting master!

 Trying to move a cookie from my forehead to my mouth without using my hands....unsucessfully!

                                       

The elusive fish....

Experiments, experiments, experiments...
I am so lucky to have a husband who is so supportive of my dreams and aspirations and who encourages me!

Banana Strawberry Freezer Jam

So, this is the jam I made the other day that y'all requested the results and recipe for. This recipe comes from the Ball Blue Book for canning and preserving.

Recipe:
3 large bananas
3 cups crushed strawberries(about 1 1/2 quarts)
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 pouch freezer jam pectin

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cover a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Place bananas on baking sheet; do not peel. Bake for 15 minutes at 400. Cool. Peel and crush bananas. Measure 1 cup crushed bananas. Combine bananas and strawberries in a medium bowl; set aside. Stir sugar and pectin together in a large bowl until well blended. Add fruit mixture to sugar mixture and stir 3 minutes. Ladle jam into plastic freezer jars, leaving 1/2 inch head space. Let jam stand 30 minutes to thicken. Lable and freeze.

Results: So, the jam TASTES great! The only thing that bothers me is that it froze solid. Most freezer jams maintain a semi liquid state so you can spoon out jam. With this jam I had to cut out a chunk from the freezer to defrost and try. If anyone has any suggestions they would be appreciated since I've never done freezer jam before! (The regular strawberry freezer jam recipe turned out fantastic!)

Gingerbread!

I made this gingerbread cabin a few years ago and just found the pictures again and I was super excited so ya'all get to see them! I have been making gingerbread houses for many years, it's something that my mom and I enjoyed doing together when I was growing up. With this particular house, realistic looking was my goal. Everything on the tray is edible, from the chimney down the sugar water stream with floating "ice" chunks. Imagine that the door is broken and standing open because a bear scared away the people while they were roasting marchmallows outside because he wanted to hibernate inside....yup..that's what MUST have happened!
Now, the only question is...what kind of gingerbread creation should I do this year?

More baking!

Yet more baking adventures! I'm learning as I go along and enjoying it, even when things go a little haywire...we had a few cupcake misadventures today before the final product was captured on film..... I probably shouldn't have a favorite since I made all three but the butterfly is my favorite!

Why “Siftables” (They’re New Digital Blocks from MIT) Are Not, Not, Not Better Than Regular Blocks.

I found this article while doing "research" for a new cake idea I had and it resonated with me and the way I want my children to learn. Give children a large cardboard refrigerator box, pots and pans and some crayons and let them play! (Somewhat simplified view, as my children will have other toys, I assure you!)

Why “Siftables” (They’re New Digital Blocks from MIT) Are Not, Not, Not Better Than Regular Blocks.