Holy Moly

Obviously blogging has not been a priority for me lately. Rather than try to catch you up on everything/anything or try to upload a ton of pictures, I'm just going to start from scratch... like I never missed a day blogging.

Thanksgiving was great. We got to go to Jay's oldest sister's house and spent most of the day eating way too much yummy food and hanging out with family. We went over to my parents' house for a couple hours after that and... ate some more. Like we were hungry, but what can you do when there's so much good food?

Hyrum is loving school and started asking me on Friday if he got to go to school tomorrow. He has a great teacher and is doing pretty good.

Maddy is doing great, too. She loves preschool and her teacher and she is learning so much. It's definitely worth the money to have a couple hours of peace and quiet (the girl is constantly talking) and to have her learn and love it so much. Her teacher was telling me that she is constantly talking about her brothers and what they do, so I'm glad that she doesn't mind being the only girl and loves her brothers.

Miles is finally starting to talk a little more and it seems like his vocabulary is increasing every day. Sometimes I have to decode what he is saying before I understand it, but here are the words I can remember that he says now: dinosaur, ear, eyes, hair, chin, spoon, fork, down, Mom, Dad, Dan, light, some too, no, more, thank you, drink, duck, blanky, go. I'm sure that there are more, but that's what I can remember for now.

Graham is getting up on his hands and knees constantly and rocks back and forth. No crawling yet, but I'm sure that will be coming very shortly (much to my dismay). He is so fun and his laugh always brightens my day.

I've still been baking up a storm... seems like whenever I have a free hour I end up in the kitchen making something sweet to satisfy my sweet tooth. Good thing I'm good with sharing!

I will try to be better about posting more often!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake

Ok, so if you don't like super rich chocolate and peanut butter mixture then please do not make this cake as you will hate it. It turned out sooooo good! And I took a bigger piece than I could finish. The peanut butter cream cheese frosting adds so much to it and then the chocolate glaze over that just puts it over the top to die for. I got this new cake cook book called Sky High that is full of just three layered cakes. This recipe comes from that and I see much more cakes coming from it into our house (good thing my birthday is coming up... I'm excited for that cake, for sure!). So, here's the recipe for you... Enjoy!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake

Makes an 8-inch triple layer cake

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 1/2 cups sugar

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup vegetable oil

1 cup sour cream

1 1/2 cups water

2 tablespoons white vinegar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 eggs

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray the bottoms and sides of three 8-inch round cake pans.

2. Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt into the kitchen aid bowl. Whisk to combine them well. Add the oil and sour cream and blend with the flat beater attachment in your kitchen aid. Gradually beat in the water. Blend in the vinegar and vanilla. Whisk the eggs in a small bowl then add to the mixture and beat until well blended. Scrap down the sides of the bowl and be sure the batter is well mixed. Divide among the 3 prepared cake pans.

3. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out almost clean. Let cool in the pans for about 20 minutes. Invert onto wire racks and let cool completely.

4. To frost the cake place on layer, flat side up, on large serving plate. Spread 2/3 cup of the peanut butter frosting evenly over the top. Repeat with the next layer. Place the last layer on top and frost the top and sides of the cake with the remaining frosting.

5. To decorate with the chocolate-peanut butter glaze, pour the glaze over the top of the cake ad spread it evenly over the top just to the edges so that it runs down the sides of the cake in long drops. Refrigerate, uncovered, for at least 30 minute to allow the glaze and frosting to set. Remove about 1 hour before serving.

Peanut Butter Frosting

8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature

1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

5 cups powdered sugar

2/3 cup smooth peanut butter

In a kitchen aid, beat the cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy. Gradually add the powdered sugar 1 cup at a time, mixing thoroughly after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bown often. Continue to beat of medium speed until light and fluffy, 3-4 minutes. Add the peanut butter and beat until thoroughly blended.

Chocolate-Peanut Butter Glaze

8 ounces semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped (I actually used chocolate chips and it worked great)

3 tablespoons smooth peanut butter

2 tablespoons light corn syrup

1/2 cup half-and-half

1. In the top of a double broiler combine the chocolate, peanut butter, and corn syrup. Melt on medium heat, whisking often, until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth.

2. Remove from the heat and whisk in the half-and-half, beating until smooth. Use while still warm.

Chocolate Strawberry Cake

Today was my little brother's 20th birthday and I have been hankering to make a cake, so I asked him if I could make his cake for him. He obliged and requested a chocolate strawberry one which I was more than happy to do for him.

I ended up making a double layer chocolate cake with strawberry filling and cream cheese frosting and fresh strawberries sliced on top. It turned out absolutely wonderful.

The cake was very chocolatey (without being super sugary sweet) and had a great texture. This recipe is now my go-to chocolate cake recipe. I got all of the below recipes from http://www.smittenkitchen.com/. She didn't put it together the same way I did... but all the recipes are hers, which is awesome.

Chocolate Butter Cake
This made 9 inch round layers with a little left over

3 cups cake flour
3 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tablespoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 sticks (1 1/2 cups) butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups fresh brewed coffee, cooled to room temperature (I actually used Postum, but I imagine Perro would work great, too)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray with non-stick spray with flour added on 2 9-inch round cake pans.

In Kitchen Aid bowl, combine flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Mix on low speed until fully incorporated.

Add butter and buttermilk and mix until moistened. Put speed up to medium and beat for 2 minutes or until light and fluffy. Scrape down sides of bowl often to make sure there isn't any flour hiding unmixed.

Whisk together the eggs and coffee in a small bowl. Add to the batter in 3 seperate additions, scraping the sides of the bowl in between and mixing just until combined. Fill the 2 prepared pans halfway.

Bake for 38-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Carefully turn them onto wire racks and let cool completely.

Strawberry Filling

1 cup pureed strawberries
1/4 cup sugar
1 Tablespoon corn starch

In a small saucepan mix together all the ingredients on medium-high heat. Stir constantly until the mixture comes to a boil. Let it boil for a few minutes until thickened. Remove from heat and let cool before spreading it between the cake layers.

Cream Cheese Frosting

8 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, at room temperature
3 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cream together the cream cheese and butter until fluffy and smooth. Add powdered sugar and vanilla extract and mix until smooth.

If you make this, let me know how it turned out for you. I will be definitely making it again and soon if I can help it!

Four weeks

I can hardly believe that four weeks ago today I was sitting in a hospital bed with my brand new baby Graham. It seems like with each additional kid I've had that the time speeds up a little more. I swear I was just going through this all for the first time with Hyrum. Now he's 6 years old and I am amazed at how much he is learning on a daily basis. I am really trying to treasure every moment with Graham as I know that he is already growing and changing faster than I can tell. I already can't imagine life without the little man. He is definitely a part of our family.

When Maddy looks at him or holds him she has started saying, "He's so cute! He's so darn, darn cute!" Hyrum and Maddy still ask to hold him all the time and I love that they are so interested and caring. Miles will pucker up his lips when he sees him passing by in my arms to give him a kiss on the head. I am still pleasantly surprised with how well Miles is doing and how gentle he is with him. And I am finally feeling like I can handle this whole four kids thing. Not that I'm going to be taking them all to the grocery store by myself anytime soon or anything, but I don't feel overwhelmed constantly anymore.

Today I went on a walk with my mom with all the kids (2 double strollers so all the kids are sitting and we are both pushing) and then let the kids play at the park for a while. It was a great mommy day! I just feel so happy and content and that days like today are the reason why I've wanted to be a mom my entire life. I've also decided that I need to start taking the kids out to do something fun once a week. My mom offered to come help whenever I wanted her to, so that will be nice so I don't feel like I can't do it by myself. I'm thinking anything around that's free (I'm open to suggestions) like a duck pond, BYU Art Museum, picnic, library, etc. And some not so free things too, of course like swimming at the pool, dollar theater movies, zoo, etc. I'm excited and think the kids will love getting out of the house and, heck, so will I! It's going to be a great summer!

Pajamas

So, yesterday was one of my best friend's son's first birthday and I decided on Sunday that I was going to sew some pajamas for him for his present. I had everything besides the ribbing for the neck on hand (which was a grand total of $.54), so it was just my time that I needed to put into it. I am very happy with the end result (and they looked so cute on him). Even if it was attempt number two (never ever again will I try sewing with stretch knit!). I got these cut and completely sewn in one day. I was pretty impressed with myself. I do have to admit that I asked my mom to do the neck band since I was not ready to try to attempt anything with stretchy fabric again quite yet. She was so nice and did a great job and saved me lots of time, I'm sure. Anyway, here's the finished product...

I think I have enough of the fabric to make Miles a shirt, which I might do if I can get up the motivation next week.

Baking blog?

So, it's no secret, I am not the best at updating my blog. I was talking with a friend and she suggested posting about my baking. So, I thought I'd give it a whirl. I'd love to hear what you (all 2 of my readers) think. I'm sure I'll still post the occassional picture of my cute kids (because, really, how can I resist?), but maybe this will give me the motivation to post more often. I absolutely love to bake and sharing recipes is a big part of that too.

So, I'm going to start this off with red velvet cupcakes (minus the red since I didn't have any food coloring on hand).

I thought they were pretty good, but next time I'm definitely going to make sure I have cream cheese on hand to make cream cheese frosting instead of butter cream which seemed a little too sweet for the mildness of the chocolate cake.

The cake itself was moist and a good texture though. I wish my kids would've appreciated that fact a little more as they would lick the frosting off and maaaaybe take one bite of the cake part. And the hubby didn't really care for the frosting with it, so ate a grand total of one.

Leaving me with the task of eating most of them myself. Not that I'm complaining TOO much, but it certainly doesn't help with getting back into my regular pants. Ah well... always another day to start dieting right? I can't remember where I got the recipe from... somewhere online, but I looked at too many different places to remember. This made 24 regular sized cupcakes.

Red Velvet Cupcakes
Ingredients -
2-1/2 cups All-Purpose Flour2 tablespoons Cocoa Powder

1 1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder1 teaspoon Salt

1/2 cup Butter, softened

1-1/2 cups Granulated Sugar

2 Eggs

1-1/2 teaspoon Red Food Coloring

1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

1 cup Buttermilk

2 tablespoons Water

1-1/2 teaspoons White Vinegar

1 teaspoon Baking Soda

Preparation:
1. Preheat oven to 350 F.

2. Place cupcake baking cups into muffin tin.

3. Combine all-purpose flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt in a medium-mixing bowl.

4. In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar with electric mixer. Butter mixture should be light and fluffy. Continue mixing and add in eggs, red food coloring, and vanilla extract until well blended.

5. Alternately add buttermilk and flour mixture to creamed butter mixture.

6. Mix water into cupcake mixture

7. Combine vinegar and baking soda, in a small bowl. Gradually stir vinegar mixture into cupcake batter.

8. Spoon cupcake batter into cupcake baking cups.

9. Bake 20 minutes, or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

10. Remove cupcakes from muffin tin and cool completely before icing.

Graham's birth story

So, a warning before you start reading this. It might be a bit graphic or too much information for some of you. So, if you don't want to know all the details of Graham being born, stop now. I promise I won't be offended in the least bit. Here goes.

Jay and I headed to the hospital for my induction at 12:00 midnight Tuesday night/Wednesday morning. The reasoning behind the time was to SLOWLY start me on pitocin and get my 4 hours of antibiotics for Strep B in before Graham was born. Anyway, my OBGYN had forgotten to schedule the induction AND the hospital had that he was on vacation from Wednesday until the end of the month and they couldn't induce me without doctor's orders. They almost sent us home, but I think my puppy dog eyes and huge pregnant belly got their sympathy and the nurse got the head nurse and she called my doctor and told him he would have to push back his vacation until after I had the baby since he had forgotten to schedule it. (Oh, and by the way, a huge part of the reason I had decided to be induced a week early was because he said he was going out of town the weekEND before my due date... not the entire last two weeks before my due date.) Anyway, the nurses were totally awesome and made it work out for me. I almost broke down and cried while we were waiting to hear what they were going to do. Anyway, about 12:30 they admitted me to the hospital and started my IV with antibiotics and pitocin. The contractions were very minimal in pain and Jay and I watched a couple movies (While You Were Sleeping, and started The Terminal). It was great to spend some time relaxed and with my husband with the exciting prospect of what was to come.

Every 30 minutes they upped the pitocin a little and by about 7:00 my pain level was still pretty minimal at a level between 2 and 3 (1 being none to little pain and 10 being completely unbearable). At 7:30 I had the highest level of pitocin going and they called the doctor to come break my water. There was some miconium in it, but since it was more yellow than green they weren't too worried. The nurse now (Darlene - the second nurse of the night) was hilarious and absolutely awesome. She warned me that the contractions were about to get very painful. And she was right! It seemed like with every couple contractions the pain level jumped up another number. Jay was absolutely wonderful and really listened to what I said was working to help me deal with the pain during contractions. He called my mom and she came and it was great to have her support as well. I really can not describe the amount of pain I was in by probably about 9:15 (things were sort of a blur during this part). They checked me and I was at 5 cm. That was when I decided that I wanted an epidural. Thinking I possibly had hours more of this much pain ahead of me was just not a possibility. My mom when out and got a nurse to tell her I wanted the epidural NOW. The anesthesiologist came and I can not believe how still I had to hold while he put the epidural in. It actually gave me some real focus though and knowing that getting it in would make it so I wouldn't feel the pain was enough motivation for me to just be able to do it. So, it took probably about 10 minutes to get the epidural in and the nurse checked me again and I was fully dialated to 10 cm! They gave me another dose in the epidural to try to get enough in so I wouldn't feel the pain so much. The nurse called my doctor and told me to try not to push until he got there. And my Mom remembered that we should call Kara to come (I had completely forgotten I was so wrapped up in the pain I was in). She got there as fast as she could and literally ran in the door as I was starting to push. The epidural barely was taking the edge off the pain when I was ready to push. I was grateful for that much at least though. Graham was posterior so with the first push the doctor turned him around. I pushed through three contractions (picture what those women in the movies are like having a baby... screaming and sweating and that was me) and Graham Taggart Blair was born. He had the cord wrapped around his neck and his body a few times and had breathed in the miconium. The doctor unwrapped him and cut the cord and the nurses cleaned him off and checked his vitals. He had fluid in his lungs still and was breathing too quickly, so I got to hold him for a few seconds and then they had to take him to the nursery and put some oxygen on him and give him some fluids via IV.

Graham weighed in at 6 pounds 15 ounces of absolute preciousness and was 19 1/2 inches long. He is my smallest baby by almost a pound. After being in the nursery for a couple hours he got to come back to me and we really bonded. He had some trouble nursing at first, but is now an expert nurser! I am so grateful for that.

The whole family has fallen absolutely in love with him. Today Graham was sleeping wrapped up in a blanket on my bed and Hyrum came and just watched him for at least 20 minutes in total awe. Maddy keeps wanting to hold him and makes sure he is always covered up. Miles is quickly learning to be soft and is always coming up and saying "baba" (AKA baby) and petting his head or pointing to his nose.

I'm really wanting to add pictures to this post, but it will have to wait until tomorrow. Hopefully I don't forget.

Cleansing tears.

So, back in January my Great Grandma passed away at 102 years old (actually a month away from her 103rd birthday). I found out, ironically enough, on our way to visit her. I cried a few tears when I innicially heard the news, but didn't shed a single tear during her veiwing or funeral. I was touched by those who spoke and knew I would miss her increadibly, but I just didn't feel the need to cry. Yet. Last night I sent my wonderful husband to the store to get some diapers and treats for Hyrum to take to class today. He also came home with a bag of Salt Water Taffy as a treat for us to eat. This is not normally something I buy since I am automatically drawn to anything with chocolate in it rather than, well, not. I was really excited though and turned on the season finale of Dancing With the Stars and dug in to the bag. Not moments later I was pausing the show as a wave of nostalgia hit me and the tears came unbidden pouring down my cheeks. You see, my Great Grandma always (and I mean always) had certain treats at her house for when kids (and, the not so little kids) would come visit. She had homemade fudge (my very favorite), salt water taffy, and hard candy (butterscotch and cinnamon), plus usually some kind of cookie.

So, I think the large majority of times I have eaten taffy before last night was sitting on my Grandma's couch while listening to her tell stories of times gone by and how she used to do things. I missed her more than I could put into words. I missed sitting on her lap and having her rub her calloused hand on my back under my shirt as a child. I missed her hugs and kisses and her telling me "I love you a bushel and a peck" and "Kid, you don't know what love is until you are as old as me". I missed her smell and her house and playing in her front yard. I missed sleeping on her floor on foam egg carton mattresses. I missed her asking if I wanted to borrow a nighty and getting to take a turn sleeping with her in her unusually high bed. I missed her standing in the driveway waving and blowing kisses as we pulled away. I just missed her.

I was talking to my Aunt about it a little bit and she said she thought that Grandma was holding little Graham's spirit in heaven right now (she used to absolutely love to hold the babies) and enjoying him before he came down to us. So, Graham, enjoy Grandma as much as you can for me before you come to join our family. And bring some of her love with you when you come.