Dangerous Chocolate Cake!

I'm sitting here with no TV ... yes, our 2 -year old, LCD flat screen Sony TV seems to have bit the dust ... oh, the extended warranty you ask ... we don't have it! Seriously, it's the most expensive piece in our house and it no longer works! We'll see what the repair man has to say. Thank goodness for my laptop! So onto the food .... yummy!

My sister sent me a recipe for "Cake in a Mug" it's a 3-minute cake! Just what every women needs to satisfy the "I need chocolate NOW!" craving! As I read the ingredients list I realized I had all the requirements and with Kelty content in his Exersaucer I whipped up a little cake! In about 6 minutes I was munching on a little chocolate cake! Whoohoo!

DANGEROUS CHOCOLATE CAKE-IN-A-MUG

1 coffee mug
4 Tbsp. cake flour (plain, not self-rising)
4 Tbsp. sugar
2 Tbsp. cocoa
1 egg
3 Tbsp. milk
3 Tbsp. oil
Small splash of vanilla
3 Tbsp. chocolate chips, optional

Add dry ingredients to mug, mix well with a fork.
Add egg, mix thoroughly.
Pour in milk and oil and vanilla, mix well.
Add chips, if using.
Put mug in microwave, and cook for 3 minutes on 1000 watts.
Cake will rise over top of mug--do not be alarmed!
Allow to cool a little; tip onto a plate if desired.

Garnish as desired!

*** 3 minutes is too long for a microwave oven over 1000 watts. I didn't check the wattage (sp) until after I finished and our microwave is over 2000 watts! Don't put this in for 3 minutes if your microwave is over 1000 watts ... I would reduce it by 30-45 seconds perhaps ... my cake was good but it would have been better if it wasn't overcooked!***

Ok, let's be honest. When our hubbies are gone we eat different ... it's really not so much fun cooking for just one. I really enjoy cooking but it's better when you can share it with someone. This is one of my favorite quick meals when Al is gone ... it really is yummy!

Portebella Mushroom Cap with Proscuitto and Mozzarella

(This photo isn't great and it doesn't do this meal justice ... but trust me ... it's GOOD!)

1 Large Portebella Mushroom Cap

Olive Oil

Salt and Pepper

2 Paper Thin Slices of Prosciutto

1-2 Slices Mozzarella Cheese

Place mushroom cap gill side up on a baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place in a 350 degree oven for 12-15 minutes. Remove from oven and layer 2 slices of prosciutto and mozzarella. Sprinkle with oregano. Place under broil for 2-4 minutes or until cheese is hot and bubbly.

Doorbell Ringers!!!

If another person dare rings my doorbell and wakes my sleeping child they will experience the wrath of a crazy mother! No soliciters, no delivery persons ... I will hunt you down and run you over with my stroller (and it has big rubber wheels) ... if you are lucky I'll only run you over once. For those of you who have been to my house, you understand that the doorbell triggers a symphony of bark from our chihuahua's which in turn startles Kelty. Anyway ... onto happier things ....

We've had a pretty low-key week. Yesterday was our playgroup; Kelty and I drove over to Meghan's home this week. Despite my attempts to get there on time I was 1/2 hour late due to the "great white polo shirt hunt" for Kelty. Sersiously, why is it so hard to find some plain clothes for a child (yes, this is coming from me who loves to dress her son in stripes and polka dots). I drove around Tuesday trying to find a plain white polo to match a pair of shorts for Kelty. The Children's Place (TCP) had a few recently but they were sold out in Brandon. After getting home I called all the local TCP's to see who still had a few in stock. TCP at International Plaza had one left in stock which they kindly held for me until Wed morning ... which is where I was waiting when their doors opened at 10am ... which is why I was late to our 10:30 playgroup. Seriously ... all that effort for a plain white polo ... which turned into an additional plain blue polo, 2 pairs of cute pants, and a striped (yes, striped) layered polo ... at least I put the hat back! I'll take photos of Kelty in these little outfits as they week progresses. Here are a few photo's and video for your enjoyment.

Kelty riding on Jake and Ryan's little bus.

Evangeline pushing Jake ... Evangeline is practicing her walking!

Kelty playing with Ryan and Jake at the dance tower.

Kelty was giggly and loved having a tissue swept across his face.

This, That and The Other

Nothing too exciting to report but I'll share a few tidbits and pictures of the last few days. Kelty started Gymboree classes last Friday ... he loved it (so did I). I decided to sign him up for a weekly class plus the "open gym" time. Monday I showed the house to the same couple that came by a week ago; I left the house so they could walk and discuss in private ... they stayed nearly 40 minutes which is a really good sign. We'll see how it turns out! Kelty accompanied me to my dental appointment this afternoon ... the hygienist gave him his 1st toothbrush (mostly to keep him quite for a little longer). After my appointment I took him over to Gymboree for the "open gym". Here are some pics of the last few days.

Kelty likes the crunch of the watermelon but spits it out after he takes a bite ... silly boy!

Do I hear a baby Mozart?

We spent about 45 minutes at Gymboree this afternoon. There is so much room for him to crawl and so many new things to explore safely. It's quite cute ... he must be used to hearing me say "no" in the house because every time he wants to crawl on something at Gymboree he look at me first, as if to ask "Is this OK mom?"

Kelty spent about 15 minutes playing with the green beach ball. I threw it in the tube for him to go after.

Climbing the stairs.

Crawling through the tunnel.

That's a Wrap!

Another week down! We wrapped up the week with a playgroup on Thursday at the Campo YMCA in Valrico and Gymboree on Friday. It's honestly been a rough week for us but ending the week on a good note seems to make it better. I also showed the house again this afternoon ... I got that call on my to Gymboree and of course was anxious to get back in time to do the "quick clean" and show the house. Here are a few snapshots of our end-of-week activities. I don't have any photos of our playtime at Gymboree but I'll post a few after our next class.

Kelty loves the water and he really enjoyed our hour at the little splash pool at the YMCA ... I stole this photo from Katey's blog ... thanks Katey!

This is the little water park at the YMCA ... we'll go back with Daddy!

Kelty loved the little geysers.

Kelty would stick his mouth in the geyser to drink!

Michelle and I are trying a toy swap so that Catherine and Kelty get to play with new toys without the cost involved in buying them! This way they won't get tired of their toys too fast either!

Kelty is borrowing Catherines' activity table while Catherine plays with his Sit-to-Stand Toy. He likes to flip the page on the book!

Kelty's new favorite snack ... graham crackers! Unfortunately he'd rather eat his graham crackers than his dinner now! Great.

Food, Fun and IKEA!

I haven't posted in a few days so I'll do a little recap of events.

Friday was Kelty's 9-month check-up. Al and I were both able to go to this visit before Al had to leave. The appointment went well but of course we went through the normal battery of questions concerning Kelty's eating habits since he is only in the 4th percentile for weight. Everyone thinks Kelty looks like a healthy baby, including the doc ... you'd never know that he is so low in the weight percentiles!

Kelty and I went to Jake and Ryan's 1st birthday party on Sat. Despite my attempts to get there on time we arrived 1/2 hour late ... well, at least we got there. We walked in the front door and it was a jungle of kids (pun intended - the birthday was jungle themed). The front room was very spacious and perfect for all the kids to play ... it made me realize how small of a space Kelty has to play in! We had a wonderful time and the twins were so cute to watch. Here are a few photo's ...

Kelty had so much fun playing with all the different toys and seeing his playgroup friends!

All the kids loved Jake and Ryans little zoo.

Happy Birthday Jake and Ryan!

Sunday was a normal day. I showed the house that afternoon; it went well but we'll see how it turns out. They seemed more interested in whether we would leave our patio furniture, grill and draperies than I would have liked but I guess everything is negotiable when you're trying to sell a house ... especially with this housing market! Here are a few photos and video's of Sunday and Monday.
Kelty likes to stand most of the day ... he's so proud of himself!

After doing some of Kelty's laundry I decided to put him in the laundry basket and push him around the house (it's on wheels). His face reads "Mom, you're an idiot!" :o)

Kelty seems to have a simple taste pallet ... despite my attempts to introduce him to new foods he like to stick to the simple meals. He is not a big fan of mixed foods as you will soon see in this video! This was pretty yummy, it was a pasta and Parmesan thing ... WARNING, WARNING, WARNING ... he does more than just spit out the food in this video ... don't say I didn't warn you!

I don't know if I want to try this one again!

Here is little video of Kelty playing with his newest toy ... thanks Nana and Papa! This is the first thing he wants every day!

Kelty and I met our friends Michelle and Catherine at IKEA in Orlando this morning. All I have to say is Michelle and I exercised some serious self-control! I walked out with a new stuffed aligator toy for Kelty (pictures later) and a duvet cover for the guest room ... I realized on my way home that I forgot about the sheets! If your not familiar with an IKEA ... it is a 2-story, modern European store where you can literally furnish a house from the silverware to the sofa's and awesome prices! Everything is so unique ... you can literally spend your entire day there! After IKEA, we drove next door to the mall. By that time the kids were restless and after a brief lunch we poked around a bit and let the kids "play" in the Pottery Barn Kids store. There was no kids play area in the mall so Potter Barn was our make-shift play area ... I think the store associates were onto us! :o) No pictures of our excursion today ... we both forgot our camera's.

Mr. Sandman? I SAID HELLO MR. SANDMAN!!

Today is going to be a long day ... I was up every hour with Kelty. Does my child not require sleep? Kelty has been going through a really rough spurt with his sleep but I thought the last few nights we were back to our normal 3 wakings ... oh no, no so fast momma! I tried everything last night; bottle, Tylenol for the teeth, laying next to his crib ... I am so exhausted I feel nauseous. If you can see on the exterior how I feel in the inside ... this would be really close!

Courtesy of my laptop's YouCam!

Bouncing to Sleep and Hide-n-Seek

Wow ... I am really having a hard time keeping up with my blog lately. I really thought Sept would slow down a little for us. In the last 4 days we've put our house on the market, had outproccessing appointments, medical appointments, carpets cleaned, stucco fixed on the house and (this is very exciting for me) I'm filling my 1st wholesale order of ChichiKids Softies for a baby boutique in CT! I'm also working on a custom ChichiClay earring order ... today is our 1st appointment for a housecleaning (we're getting it done bi-weekly) and Al is deploying. Anyway ... on to some good stuff ... Kelty! I cannot believe the changes that seem to be happening daily with him! We broke down and bought him a walker the other day ... we found the cheapest one possible since we don't know how long he'll use it for. He zooms around the house in it. I'll get to photo's and videos now since that's really what everyone looks for! :o) Here we go ...

On Tuesday Kelty and I went to the base to get our military passports and start the medical portion of our outproccessing ... this totally threw off Kelty's nap schedule. Despite my efforts to get him down for a nap at 3 and 4, he just wanted to play. I stuck him in his exersaucer so I could clean-up the kitchen while he played ... this is the result of an overtired baby in and exersaucer ...

Kelty bounced himself to sleep!

Kelty and I play hide-n-seek when he's in his walker. He usually laughs but we were just warming up this time around. Please don't laugh at my sound effects ... Kelty loves my little song! :o)

Kelty and I will play hide-and-seek for a good 20 minutes every day!

This is my star child. Kelty put his head down on his high chair during lunch and this is how he came up ... it couldn't have been any cuter!

Kelty found the toilet paper holder ... he unrolled the entire new role and I let him do it. :o)

Now I can breath .......

I am so happy to be able to make a post! I'm starting to recover from the whirlwind of August ... it went something like this; military drill weekend (exhausting) ... TN trip to meet with cabin builders (fun but business) ... IJOLD in Switzerland (AMAZING!) ... trip to MI for my youngest sisters wedding! I'll summarize the last few weeks mostly with pictures and captions ... otherwise I'd be doing this all night! Here we go ....

Tennessee!

Al, Kelty and I met up with Al's parents in Gatlinburg TN in early Aug. We own a parcel of land together and have finally decided to start building a rental cabin. We spent the week meeting with builders, marking property lines and the placement of the cabin. Everyday was jam packed but we had a nice time.

Clearing the way along our property boundaries.

OK ... there is an amazing Christmas village in Gatlinburg, it is my favorite store to visit ... it just makes me so happy to be around so many Christmas decorations! This is my favorite purchase and I am soooo excited to start this tradition. This little elf is meant to be placed out in the house to watch over the children. Each night the elf reports back to Santa and let's him know if the children in the house were naughty or nice. When the elf comes back he is perched in a different location for the children to find the next morning. How cute is that!!! I can't wait until Kelty is old enough to run out of his room in the morning to find the elf and of course always behave in it's presence!

Switzerland!!!

I don't even know where to start with this one ... to sum up the trip ... AMAZING!! I am so thankful I had this opportunity and even more thankful that my husband and his parents were there for Kelty in my absence. A week away from Kelty felt like a lifetime ... I missed him so much I'd nearly cry looking at his photos. To my dissapointment Kelty did not want to come to me the first night ... he would cry in my arms and reach for daddy. He wouldn't even let me breastfeed him that night. I'm happy to report that we were back to normal in the morning ... I guess he was done punishing mommy for leaving him! I'll just post a few photos and caption them as I go ... no matter how much I post it will never be enough to capture how awesome this experience was!

Enjoying class discussions ... our group got along so well! Seriously, this was a great group of folks!

Each morning we started class with a fun little exercise for the mind.

I was apparently quite focused during class here ... see, I'm a good student!

Our evening in Zurich. Our class met with our instructor for dinner ... followed by drinks at the bar ... followed by a dance club ... followed by a late night and early morning!

Zurich at night.

Garrety (and old college friend that was at IJOLD) and I hamming it up at the Castle of Bubikon ... our farewell dinner.

Our return trip on the KC-135 ... it was a looooong day!

Michigan!

3 days after getting back from Switzerland Kelty and I traveled up to Michigan for my sister's wedding ... Al was coming up a few days later. The week up in MI flew by but it was a great trip. Kelty loved it up at Nana and Papa's house and the beautiful outdoors.

I was showing Kelty the goats ... they were hanging out in the barn when my sister took this picture. Everytime I took Kelty out to see the goats he was full of little happy noises.

Daddy and Kelty in the bounce house ... it was such a great place for Kelty to play ... he could fall all he wanted and not get hurt! Nana and Papa bought a full-size bounce house a few years ago for the grandkids ... what fun ... for the adults too!

Ok ... I'm a little too big for the kids John Deer! I was bringing it out for the kids to play on.

Kelty driving the golf cart with Aunt Jessica!

Lacing up Rachel's wedding dress ... she looked amazing! I'll post more wedding photos when we get them. It was such a wonderdul weekend, ceremony and reception! More to come on the wedding!

Ok ... I could go on and on posting photos but I'm tired and this blog is already long enough. Tomorrow I'll post some updates on Kelty, photos and videos.