Baby Shower for Eli!

We're all about babies and baby showers in my family right now.  

Baby W. is due any day now and Baby Eli is due on July 20.  

We can't wait!!!

Today was a special day to celebrate Eli and his beautiful Mommy Vanessa, my sweet sister-in-law.

Here's how it went down:

Before...

 

During...

And the After Party!

Eli, we can't wait to meet you!!!!

Not Your Typical Children's Story

I am very proud of my husband.

This past semester not only has he been working two jobs, taking a full load of classes, and being an awesome husband and dad; he has also been working hard to start up his own side company, with the help of his brother Mark and friend Derek.

We just got the paperwork back from the state of Texas so the company is now official!!

It is called Primedia E-Launch and will offer the service of converting out-of-print or self-published books from hard copy to E-version.

In a world where E-Readers and tablet computers are becoming more and more mainstream, this could be a really exciting opportunity.

Primedia's website is on target to be launched in the next couple of weeks and we're hoping to get some business from writers who have full rights to their books and want to convert them to E-formats.

In the meantime, Josh and Mark have been using their spare time to convert old public domain books into e-books to sell on Amazon and Barnes and Noble for Kindles, Nooks, iPads and Android tablets.

Thus far they have stuck mainly to Theology books but yesterday Primedia converted its very first children's book.

After a special request.

From me. :)

Of all the books I had read to me as a small child, the one that I always remember as my hands-down, all-time favorite, is The Story of Horace.

Grammy (my dad's mom) had the book at her house.  Every time my sister and I visited her we would find it, climb onto her lap, and beg her to read it to us.

Again and again and again.

My cousins all loved it, too.

I still love this book.

It ryhmes, it repeats.  It's everything a good children's book should be.

Umm...except for the fact that it's about a bear who eats an entire family one family member after another.

Yes.

You will never find another children's book quite like this one on a bookstore shelf today.

It is very unique.

Truly, what would possess a person to write a book like that for kids?!

I don't know!

All I know is that WE LOVED IT!!!!!

And it didn't scar us in the least.   

I can still hear Grammy reading...very dramatically...

(That's just the beginning...)

Thanks to Primedia, The Story of Horace is now going to be able to be a shining star in Knox's childhood, as well. 

I am SO THRILLED!

I just hope I can do the voices as well as Grammy did.  :)

If you would also like this one-of-a-kind book to be a part of YOUR E-book collection (you do!) check it out here on Amazon and here on barnesandnoble.com.

Primedia rocks! ♥

Nancy's Homemade Hamburger Buns

Did anyone happen to notice how especially lovely the hamburger buns looked in yesterday's Hawaiian Hamburgers post? 

That is because my mom made them, from scratch.

Wow.

I was very excited when she said she was going to be making us homemade hamburger buns because ever since summer weather hit Dallas (you know, back in February) I've been dreaming of trying out some bun recipes myself.

Hamburgers are an I-want-to-make-something-really-quick-and-easy menu item for me.  Usually I grab the 89 cent store brand 8-pack of buns...which are serviceable, but tasteless. 

And dry. 

And, no matter how hard I try to keep them at the top of my grocery bag pile, inevitably half squished by the time I get them home.

I'm sure that sometimes for convenience sake I'll reach for the 89 cent buns again. 

But I think hamburgers have just been transformed from an I-want-to-make-something-really-quick-and-easy menu item into an I-want-to-make-something-really-special menu item for me.

Sometimes you just want to make a really special hamburger.  What could make a great burger more special than a homemade bun?!

Yum!

This recipe my mom got from her friend Nancy.  Nancy is a bread making master so we knew these were going to be good.  

They were amazing.

I don't have to try out any other bun recipes.

Thank you, Nancy...and thank you, Mom!!

I can't wait to make these myself.

My Mama

Nancy's Homemade Hamburger Buns

1 cup very warm water 
1/3 cup oil
2 Tbl. sugar
2 Tbl. yeast
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp. salt
3 1/2 cups flour

Mix first four ingredients and let rest 15 minutes in the KitchenAid bowl. Add egg, flour, and salt. Mix and knead 5 minutes. Roll 1/2-3/4 inch thick and cut out rolls with glass.*


Arrange on cookie sheet that has been lightly sprayed or buttered. Let rise 30 minutes. Brush tops lightly with melted butter and bake at 425 for 8-9 minutes. 

*We also tried hand-forming a few rolls and actually liked the shape of the hand-rolled buns a little bit better than the glass-cut buns.  So next time I think I will skip the rolling out and cutting and just divide the dough into 12 pieces and shape into rolls.

Hawaiian Hamburgers

No summer visit to Vermont would be complete without Hawaiian Hamburgers!

My mom has been making these burgers for us for years.  And now it's a regular summer menu item at my house, too; because they're amazing. 

After eating these, plain old hamburgers are just plain boring.

The honey in this recipe makes the burgers a little sweet, the soy sauce makes them a little salty, and the spices make them...perfection. :)

What makes the burgers Hawaiian, you ask? 

That's a good question.  I think it's the pineapple ring you're supposed to serve on top. 

But we forgot the pineapple this time. 

And since I'm not a big fan of fruit in my main course and never add the pineapple to mine anyway, I wasn't disappointed. 

Just pass me a big bottle of ketchup, please. :)

Justin, Grill Master of the Day

Hawaiian Hamburgers

2 lb. ground beef

1/2 cup honey

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. paprika

1/4 tsp. curry powder

1/8 tsp. ginger

1/8 tsp. nutmeg

1/4 cup soy sauce

Mix all ingredients together, then form meat into patties.  Grill; then serve topped with lettuce and sliced pineapple. (Or, if you're me...just ketchup.  And maybe a few slices of avocado!)

Oh and we always eats these burgers with baked sweet potato fries...generously sprinkled with seasoned salt. 

It's tradition. :)

Blog Post 100

I started this blog on a whim.

One cold night in January, while I was reading some other blogs and drinking a cup of tea, I just decided I wanted to blog.

And so I blogged.

And I just kept blogging!

I love it.

It is a hobby that combines all my favorite things...writing, trying new recipes, taking photos of my baby, and sharing little lessons that God teaches me along the way.

Blogging gives me another way to keep in touch with all my family and friends who live far away.  I love to write; so it also gives me a structure that helps me stay disciplined to actually write.

It's fun!

But blogging is challenging for me, too.

It challenges me to be creative.  To think ahead.  To try new things.  To be disciplined with my time.  To put myself out there without worrying about what other people might think.

And blogging has taught me a lot about myself.

For example,

● I am WAY more cheesy than I ever thought I was. Blogging really brings out my inner cheese. :)
● I CAN operate Josh's fancy-pants camera.
● I really (no REALLY) love to make yummy food.
● My life is more colorful than I realized!
● I can accomplish a LOT in a 2-hour nap period.
● I am most creative when I'm in touch with my Creator.
● And after all the recipes I've tried, it's still hard to top a box of Ghirardelli double chocolate brownie mix. 

My plan is to keep on blogging until it starts to feel more like work than play...or maybe just until Knox starts running and I run out of time to blog. :)

THANK YOU so much to those of you who faithfully read my blog.  I do this for me, but it definitely makes it extra fun and rewarding when I see your comments and "likes" or hear that you've tried one of my recipes.

I'm at 10,816 page views after 99 posts and that number is way higher than I ever expected it to be.

Of course I estimate that 8,816 of those page views are from my mother and mother-in-law visiting and re-visiting all of the Knox photos.  :)  Thanks for bumping up my numbers, moms!  ;)

Today marks my 100th blog post.

And Knox's 10 month birthday!


We've already been out celebrating. :)

 

Stay tuned for some of Mom Thayer's recipes that I picked up in Vermont!
 
(And to those of you who have been wondering, Knox's travel tent was a HUGE SUCCESS!!!!  We actually SLEPT while we were in Vermont!!!  It was a miracle!  Everyone who travels with little ones needs a Kidco Peapod.  I am sold.)   :)

Moose, Bear, Deere...and other Vermonty things

It's hard to put into words all that I love about Vermont.

I love her sweet air.
Her wildflowers.
Her clean grass.
Her loud silence.

I love it that one morning as we were getting ready for breakfast Josh caught a glimpse of something moving outside the back door and whooped, "Look!  MOOSE!"

And that we all scrambled to the windows to see a Mama and Baby Moose sauntering past my parents' house and on down the hill...just barely too quickly for us to catch them on camera.

And then there were the other wildlife sightings...like this huge bear...

Which my sister (very easily) convinced my mom she really needed to have on hand for when her grandchildren come to visit.  :)

 
And this Deere!

It's not every day you get to ride a Deere.

Vermont is the perfect place to take long walks...

Especially when you have lots of people willing to help you. :)

It's a place where, when you stop by to visit a dear friend, you might just get sent home with half a TO DIE FOR raspberry cream pie.

And a place where nice neighbors let you come to cut fresh RHUBARB out of their yard for Strawberry Rhubarb Birthday Coffeecake.

And Rhubarb Birthday Pie.

And anything else Birthday and Rhubarb-related you could ever dream of. 

Happy Birthday, Courtney!

Vermont is a place where you might be tempted to sit  out on your back step all day just to watch the tall trees swaying in the breeze...

But where you definitely need to learn how to close the screen door...so you can keep out the mosquitos.

It's a place where you get to just hang out by the counter...

 
And watch your mom working magic in the kitchen.

In Vermont you never know when there might be a shower!

Cute helicopter quilt my mom made for Baby W!

Beautiful things just happen...in Vermont.