damn the torpedoes!

on sunday we packed up and headed to dauphin island to do some exploring.

on our way

we made it to fort gaines and oscar posed with a sign for me

checking out some cannons with grandpa

mom looking out at the fort

here i am with some of the great/scary stairs

oscar only wanted to hold daddy's hand or grandpa's hand

down the stairs

grandpa wore his hat backwards

grandpa and gramma looking out over the bay

i convinced everyone to get pictures taken on the potty.. for some reason they were hesitant

jeremy and oscar with a cannon

gramma and her first picture next to a palm tree

being silly by the sign

we had lots of fun - the fort was full of neat things to look at. the guidebook that mom has said to give yourself at least 30 minutes to look around, but we spent at least 3 hours. we were all very tired and hungry and went to eat at the pelican reef restaurant. the food and service was wonderful, we all had some seafood (and a grilled cheese for oscar). i ate enough seafood that my lips started tingling!

easter fun

photos from our easter festivities...

oscar wondering if he's allowed to touch the basket





enjoying some eggs for breakfast (cadbury ones)

playing bunny catch

man that thing sure is sticky.. poor bunny, oscar's about to pull his head off.

the easter bunny brought a hat

aaron and lane got their pictures taken

oscar got his taken too

three boys in a swing (which means it's impossible for them all to be looking at the camera and smiling at the same time-look at this goofiness!)

hugs and high fives

easter egg hunting.. dont you love where this egg was hiding?

oscar found some money in one of his eggs!

another friday night

last friday we made kolaches! mm! they didnt have filling at our walmart, so i ended up making prune, apricot and blueberry (because i had a bag of dried blueberries). the filling was easy to make and tasted good.. and i felt all fancy making my homemade fillings, wearing my apron -woo. i think we made them too big, but they were so yummy. i think next time we might try some cheese filling.. blueberry cheesecake? sounds good to me.

oscar seems to be having some trouble with l's.. he says w most of the time instead.. it's so cute when he asks for 'kowaches'!

things on my to do list

since i had the week off of babysitting, i made a list of things i wanted to try to get done. on my list i had 3+ pairs of booties, and i got them done....

the two pairs of girl booties got wrapped up in tissue paper and mailed to acouple of my breastfeeding moms. i didnt want to put ribbon on them when i wrapped them because it would get smashed, so i went here and downloaded some scrapbook border that matched my tissue paper. i printed it and wrapped it around as ribbon, but forgot to take a picture.

i also had a lot of things to get done for our april 20th breastfeeding class.. here are some questionnaire's that we give out at the end of the class... and my little perforator tool.. it is so fun to perforate things.. i wish i had more things that needed perforations, but i dont...

also on the list was bubble blowing with oscar.. i wish i had taken the camera, but here he is in his fire fighter hat instead...

leche frita

i've been wanting to make some leche frita for months now, so last weekend i finally did. it's hard finding a good recipe.. the first one i tried never set up like it should have and had to be tossed. the second recipe worked, but i dont remember where i got it from... mom and dad have a recipe book somewhere with a recipe in it.. we made it for spanish class one year. they're crispy and sweet on the outside and creamy on the inside..

Leche Frita
1/2 cup cornstarch
3 cups milk
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
2 vanilla beans (i used vanilla flavoring)
2 large eggs, beaten
1 cup fine dry bread crumbs
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Place the cornstarch in a medium saucepan. Whisk in 1 cup of the milk and keep stirring until the cornstarch is completely dissolved. Stir in the remaining 2 cups of milk and 1/2 cup of the sugar. Split the vanilla beans lengthwise and scrape the little seeds into the mixture. (i added some cinnamon to this part, too) Over high heat,bring the mixture to a boil, stirring constantly. Stir for 1 or 2 minutes,until the mixture thickens heavily. Remove the vanilla beans and wash and dry them for another use. Pour the mixture into a shallow glass baking dish (about 8inches square) and smooth the top with a spatula until even. Cover and refrigerate for 4 hours, until quite firm.

With a knife dipped into hot water, cut the custard into approximately 1 1/4inch squares. Dip the squares first into the beaten egg and then in the bread crumbs. Place the prepared squares onto a sheet of waxed or parchment paper. (i just put them right in the pan as i dipped them)

In a heavy 10 to 12inch skillet, heat the butter and oil over medium heat. When the foam begins to subside, add half of the custard squares and brown for about 2 minutes on each side, turning them over carefully with a large metal spatula. Transfer to a warm serving platter and cook the remaining squares in the same way. Serve, sprinkled with the remaining tablespoon of sugar and the cinnamon. (i roll them around in the cinnamon sugar)
Yield: 6 servings

movie night

on saturday night, jeremy's mom came over and we watched twilight. i can't say i was crazy about the movie, but it gave me an excuse to make red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and vampire bites.

(would also pass for mummies with red eyes?)

and use these cute labels from here.

we also had some parmesan & garlic popcorn (garlic to scare away the vampires, of course)

more twilight cupcakes

visiting with the easter bunny

while we were doing our weekly grocery shopping we ran into the easter bunny. actually.. he was on break and we had to wait for him to come back... but when he did oscar went and had a chat with him. i guess oscar is definitely not scared of large furry animals.. he smiled the whole time. the easter bunny even gave him a dumdum and oscar said 'this is a good sucker!'

oscar first met the easter bunny when he was less than a month old. here they are in 2007.

friday night cookies

here are some pictures from our friday night cooking adventures.

an army of kisses

jeremy made a fancy hat for us

oscar wanted to wear the hat

me and the hat

taste testing

the finished product (i'm glad oscar's two nut-free years are up and we can have peanut butter goodies)