Baking Day

We celebrated the last of the MacFam's birthdays yesterday. Dan has a regular poker night and wanted to go, so we didn't do much in the way of celebrating. We had dinner with the kids, gave him his birthday gifts and sent him on his way with a birthday pie to eat with his friends. Incidently, he returned home with no leftovers. I think it was a hit!

When I asked him a few days ago what kind of cake he wanted, he replied with, "I haven't had a French Silk Pie or Lemon Meringue Pie in years. Maybe one of those.". I know I've never made a Lemon Meringue Pie and I was pretty sure I hadn't ever made a French Silk Pie either. I didn't know where to begin to find a recipe for either, so I turned to Google for help.

I quickly eliminated any pie that required unsweetened chocolate or uncooked eggs and finally stumbled upon one that I adapted here. It was easy enough to make and I had enough ingredients left over that I was able to make a second one for an After Christmas Party that we are attending this evening.







Since I didn't think one pie would be enough for the party we're going to tonight, Zachary and I set out to make a Lemon Meringue Pie this morning while the big boys were in school. I followed the recipe from Joanne Fluke's cookbook that I got for my birthday. It was super easy to make, the filling tastes good and it turned out pretty! I'm not a fan of Lemon Meringue, so I will rely on Dan to tell me if it tastes good.

Back!

Yeah, yeah. It's been a while. Or a year. But who's counting??

Here's a quick update on the MacFam.

~Zachary turned TWO just shy of a month ago. Where did my little monkey go? He has grown so fast. I can hardly believe it.

~Matthew & Nicholas turned "a whole hand" last week. We always referred to them as little puppy dogs because they were born in the year of the dog. So it's fitting to ask, "When did our little puppies grow up?"

~Zachary goes to preschool one day a week and loves it! He used to cry when I dropped him off in the mornings, and now he cries on the days I don't drop him off!

~Matthew & Nicholas are in VPK and are having a blast. I have no doubt in my mind that they won't be ready for kindergarten next school year. They also attend our home elementary school for speech twice a week and are doing great. Now, if only we could find their homework folders...

~Dan took a new position with a company in town. After almost nine years of telecommuting from home and 50% travel, the only travel he does now is the daily commute to and from the office!

~I joined the board again for the local twins club and now co-chairs the Clothing Exchange (thing big children's consignment sale) as well as holds the office of Parlimentarian.

~Dan and I both serve in different areas of our church on a weekly basis.

~Our family Christmas/Birthday gift this year was Disney passes. We have been twice as a family in the last week, and the kids and I made a trip out there mid week to celebrate MLK Day and a day off from school.

I think that's all the big news from our family. Stay tuned. I might get inspired to write again one day. Maybe.

Happy Birthday Zachary

I can't believe it's been a year since this sweet face was born.
A year! Seriously, I can't comprehend it.

Our family has had quite the adventure in 2010. As my mom pointed out today, I haven't written a thing since May. There are no promises that blogging will be more regular, but with the ringing in of 2011 you never know. With the new year brings new possibilities. :-)
We have had a great January 1, 2011. I personally got to "sleep in" for the first time since 2009. It was lovely, even if it only happened until 8:50am. We spent a few hours with some friends enjoying lunch, watching out children play and chatting. We love Jenn and Daniel and their kiddos, and I hate watching them get in the car and head back to Ohio after every visit. Dan and I are finally going to see the latest Harry Potter movie this evening...a bit of a spontaneous date night. I'm excited to see the movie! Tomorrow we will spend our morning at church, the afternoon preparing for a party and the evening celebrating Zachary turning ONE with family and his two best buds.

Blueberries!

My mom and I loaded up the kiddos and headed out to a blueberry farm today. I'm not a fan of blueberries myself, but Matthew and Nicholas LOVE them! I knew they would have a fun time picking them off the bushes, and as a bonus, the farmer encouraged eating them straight from the bush. He uses no pesticides, which is awesome. It meant we didn't have to wash a single berry before popping in in our mouths and eating them. And, yes, I ate a few. I have to say they were the best blueberries I've ever eaten. I don't know if it was the act of picking it myself, the sun warmed berry, or that they were just that good. I guess it doesn't matter too much.

Hard at work.

Nicholas showing me his bucket.

Counting the berries he picked?

Matthew showing me how many he had. Taken moments before he dumped them on the ground and started over.

After you pick your bucket of berries, you place them on this shaker tray thingie. (I have no idea what it's called.) You then shake out your berries and pick through to get all the bad ones out. You can also pull off all the stems from your berries. And if you're 3ft. tall, then you get on your tip toes and eat them by the handful. For reference, that tray is holding a gallon of blueberries. Our refrigerator is now full of blueberries. Anyone need a few?

Benny, the farmer, let me take the boys out for a ride on his four wheeler. It was so fun. Matthew and Nicholas laughed in delight the entire time we were moving. When we came back to the farm, they begged to go out again. Maybe next time!

Zachary came along on our adventure, too. I think he had a pretty good time, even if he wasn't allowed to eat any berries off the bush. Maybe next year!

PS: This is the info on the blueberry farm...
BMB Farms - blueberries, restrooms
4277 Old Eagle Lake Road, Bartow, FL 33830. Phone: 863-698-0239.
Open: U-Pick is now open 7 days a week 8:30 am to 7:00 pm. Directions: Highway 98 S into Bartow. Take Old Bartow/Eagle Lake Road 2.5 miles to Farm (will be marked by signs.) Highway 17 to Spirit Lake Road. Spirit Lake Road 1/4 mile to Old Bartow/Eagle Lake Road. Old Bartow/Eagle Lake Road 1/4 mile to Farm (will be marked by signs.).Payment: Cash, only.

Three Reasons

...there haven't been any new posts lately.

Nicholas

Matthew

Zachary

Hopefully I will have a chance to write a real update soon.

New pictures

Caught up on Zachary photos for the time being. As before, they are at http://pix.tazman.net/v/Zachary/

Here's one of my favorites:

Busy week

This week has been filled with doctor's appointments and hospital visits. Two of my favorite appointments were when we went to see my regular ob on Monday and my high risk ob ("Dr. Risky") today. We snapped a couple of pictures in the offices and I just have to share them here. These doctors are just two of the many people who helped bring Zachary through the pregnancy safely.

Dr. Moore, my regular ob

Dr. Al-Malt (aka "Dr. Risky")

Life has been quite the whirlwind in the last few days. We were discharged from the hospital Saturday evening and hit the ground running and not sleeping. Life with a newborn is quite different than life with 5 month old twins was two and a half years ago. Rest assured that Dan has taken lots of pictures in the days since we've been home, but his free time (and alert time) has been greatly diminished by the needs of one little 6 pound person. One day soon I hope he will get some of them off the camera and online for all to see.