Rainbow Fun

My latest project may not taste like Skittles but you can still, "taste the rainbow". Today's adventure is brought to you thanks to my husband's love for silly cakes. Speaking of silly cakes, there is some good stuff over at www.cakewrecks.com and now without further ado I present the technical process of baking rainbow cupcakes.

Normally, I would make my own cake batter but the 3month old requires me to budget time wisely so I had my dear old friend Betty whip some white cake batter up for me.



For taste test purposes I stuck my clean finger in the bowl, took a lick, and proceeded to pour what looked like evenly divide batter into 5 glasses.


...and now the real fun begins thanks once again to my friend Betty and her handy-dandy gel food color tubes.

I swirled the dye on purely for aesthetic purposes, ooh pretty!

As you can see in the picture below I created a ROYGBIV color spectrum with my gel color tubes minus the IV because I'm a busy housewife and don't have time to work with 7 colors, we are a 5 color household.

Toto, I don't think we are in Kansas anymore. Here are the beautiful mixing results!

Now that the primary rainbow spectrum batter is mixed it is time to move on to the layering process.
#1 Wrappers

#2 Layer the colors (I layered in reverse rainbow order BGYOR), just keep laying until you have used up all the batter


#3 Bake according to cake recipe directions


#4 While the cupcakes cool, take an adorable picture of nearest baby


#5 Slap on the icing(hopefully your better at it than me)








#6 Dissect




#7 Eat!

#8- Bonus! As I was writing this my husband sent me a photo of the beautiful rainbow he captured through his window at work!

Happy Birthday Bryan

I'm having anxiety over the suspense of not telling Bryan what his Birthday gift is so without further ado I'm going ahead and unveiling the "big surprise". Lets just hope he actually reads my blog!

Those of you that know Bryan may be aware of his annual trip to attend Thunder Over Louisville. Due to having a baby the chances of upholding his tradition have been slim to none, and I feel bad that we are not getting to go like we did in the past.

Thankfully, his creative wife came up with a back up plan...




A weekend getaway at a hotel that has its own waterpark! Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny and 76 degrees, if its too cold to swim we still have the HUGE indoor pool to look forward too! Did I mention that the hotel is 0.76 miles away from...THIS?? Oh, and that these fine people are going with us?

Simply Organic Strawberry Pie

I'm a purest when it comes to the beauty of the berry and preservation of its natural deliciousness so I beg you to throw out those jello coma inducing recipes and try this.

The name of the game is Simply Organic Strawberry Pie and we start with the crust. I prefer to make my own because quite frankly its a fun thing to do plus I can control the ingredients and earn bragging rights. If time is of the essence you can kiss your bragging rights goodbye and buy a pre-made shell --shhhhhh, I won't tell if you don't.

Here is a little video tutorial on how to make a pie crust thanks to LiveGreen on youtube.



Blah, mine didn't turn out so fancy but that's my own fault for being cheap and getting a lame pan.



Now we need to fill her tank with some mother nature goodness, 2 cups of sliced strawberries should do the trick.


When you done slicing add a squirt of lemon juice and stick em back in the fridge, hum a show tune, and grab your sauce pan. In a small sauce pan stir to a boil 1 cup water, 1 cup sugar, and 3 tbs cornstarch. When the mixture stars to boil remove from heat and allow to cool. In the mean time kindly throw your strawberries into the pie shell.

When your berries are in place carefully pour the liquid sugar mixture over the berries. Better yet, for a prettier presentation add the liquid sugar mix to your berries before putting it in the pie shell. Clearly I wasn't going for pretty.

Simply yummy.

2 cups strawberries
1 cup sugar
1 cup h20
3 tablespoons cornstarch
9 in pie crust

1. Mix water sugar and cornstarch in small saucepan.
2. Bring to boil stirring often. When mixture thickens and turns transparent, remove from heat add strawberries and pour into baked pie shell.
3. Chill

Got Ears?

I don't think my husband even noticed what I did to his Easter Bunny!

It was supposed to look like this:

Not this:

MMmmm...bad wife, bad!

I hope everyone had a Happy and Blessed Easter, Love The Choisser's

"Closet" Breastfeeding

Dear Pastor of Church,

On Easter Sunday, I was visiting your church with my baby. During the service, I stepped into the nursery to feed my infant son. I asked one of the nursery workers if I could use one of the two rocking chairs, as both chairs were occupied by the workers at the moment and I did not want to set in the unoccupied chair that was lacking arm rests. They quickly offered a rocker, which I appreciated. As I sat down and began to unlatch my discreet nursing camisole to feed my son, one of the workers said, "Oh, you're breastfeeding, here we have a private room for nursing mothers..." and proceeded to drag the armless chair behind a door into a room that is obviously being used as a closet, where I and my baby both hit our heads on various items.

I have several issues with both the room and the pressure that was placed on me to move from the comfortable rocker. The first issue is the safety of the room that has stuff stacked everywhere, it is not a safe place for a mother to feed her baby let alone anyone that has access to the nursery. A child could easily open the door, hide back there, and get crushed. The second is that any church treating breastfeeding mothers with such low regard as to stick them (literally) in a closet, is not a place where a nursing mother is likely to return. The third issue is I went to the nursery and should have been able to nurse my baby there as I started to do. I solved the issue myself and nursed on the steps leading into the sanctuary instead.

I was really looking forward to visiting as this was my childhood church. . Considering that our Lord and Savior was nursed by Mary as a child, I had expected a higher level of respect for the art of mothering than what I found in your place of worship. I am hoping that by letting you know my experience, breastfeeding mothers can become cherished members of your congregation.

Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation.
1 Peter 2:2

Enclosed are the photos of the conditions in which I was asked to feed my baby

Homemade Stuff Rules!

We love homemade items here in the Choisser household, especially ones made just for Mr Squeaks! Here are a few pictures of him modeling some his favorite hand crafted items.


Here Andrew is modeling an afghan that my Mom knitted during my pregnancy. She chose colors to match his nursery.

I had plans to do a series of paintings for the "clover fields" theme of Andrew's nursery but I only finished one canvas that spans the length of the changing table.

Painting for Nursery


In this photo Andrew is sportin' a sweater that my vary talented online "penpal" Beauty4Ashes crocheted him.


I will be back with a picture of Andrew's blanket that Aunt Denise made him its on my other computer ;)

...and last but not least, this little bundle was homemade with love.

TriState Moms

I got upset with a certain local online mommy group that was more concerned with profits rather than the content so I started a new community, Tristate Mom's. So far its been a huge success

As of now we are hosting monthly MNO's (Mom's Night Out) . In March we enjoyed dinner fellowship at Los Bravos, our upcoming April meeting will be held at Olive Garden and we are brainstorming a few other ideas for get-together activities! We are also looking forward to constructing a cookbook in the near future.

Currently one of the members is holding a Spring weight loss incentive program which includes prizes--just in time for bathing suit season!

We are always welcoming new members so if you live in Indiana, Illinois, or Kentucky and are a mommy or mommy-to-be (I also like to encourage newlyweds/to be) please join us at http://tristatemoms.probards.com both mainstream and crunchy mommies are welcome!

Hello Blog

Hello Blog,

I have neglected you. Andrew has kept me busy and now that Winter has subsided I have been finding myself outside more often than not.

As of yesterday, my little boy has been in the world for ten whole weeks!! I love being a mother and absolutely can not imagine life without children--I'm ready for round two ;)

My adventures in Mommyhood have led to so many fun and sometimes frustrating discoveries.

My Mei-Tai wrap (<--see photo) arrived last week and I'm head over heels in love with the thing and so is Baby A. No longer do we fumble with the big bulky stroller and a heavy baby seat when running in and out of stores.

I have also discovered the joy of cloth diapering, it was a little intimidating at first but now that I'm used to it 'sposies are out of the question. Have you ever blown up a marshmallow in the microwave?-- Disposable diapers in laundry have the same explosive properties, except they spew forth hundreds of gross gel beads EVERYWHERE (just don't ask me how they ended up in my washing machine-LOL)!

Now is my chance to get a shower, G2G.

Until next time,
Jennifer

Precious Lamb of God

Andrew's First Valentine's Day

Prelude to Valentines Day: Cooking For Someone Special-Chocolate

In honor of Valentine's Day tomorrow, I thought it would be nice to spread the love and share some yummy recipes with my dear readers-you know who you are. This "Hallmark Holiday" would not be complete without decadent chocolate delights so I dare you to skip the prepackaged marketable goodies (unless you have a new baby, of course!) and make your own tasty concoction for the sweetie in you life. Warning: If your 'sweetie' is a dog I would skip on the chocolate and make these. Here are a few ideas of mine to get you started...



Mint Chocolate Brownies (photo above)

I chose this one because I believe halitosis should be avoided at all costs on this special day, you just might end up kissing someone and thanking me later.

* 4 eggs
* 2 cups sugar
* 1 teaspoon vanilla
* 1 cup butter
* 4 ounces baking chocolate
* 1 cup flour

Topping

* 8 tablespoons butter
* 2 cups confectioners' sugar
* 1 1/2 teaspoons peppermint extract
* green food coloring
* 3-4 tablespoons cream
* 1 (6 ounce) package chocolate chips

1. Beat eggs until fluffy.
2. Add sugar and vanilla; beat well.
3. Melt the butter and chocolate and add to the mixture (mixing well).
4. Add flour and stir until smooth.
5. Pour into pan.
6. Bake at 375*F for 25 min (if using 9x12 pan) or for 20 min (if using 15x10 pan).
7. Topping: Mix 4 tablespoons butter, confectioners' sugar, mint, and cream.
8. Add green food coloring.
9. Frost brownies and refrigerate.
10. Chill 1 hour.
11. Top with remaining butter and melted chocolate chips.
12. Refrigerate and cut into squares.


Lover's Fondue

* 6 tablespoons whipping cream
* 3 tablespoons honey
* 7 ounces toblerone bittersweet chocolate, chopped (2 3.52-ounce bars) or semisweet chocolate, chopped
* 1 tablespoon kirsch (clear cherry brandy)
* 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
* fresh fruit (such as whole strawberries, 1-inch-thick slices peeled banana, peeled pear wedges and orange segment)

1. Bring cream and honey to simmer in heavy medium saucepan.
2. Add chocolate; whisk until melted.
3. Remove from heat.
4. Whisk in kirsch and extract.
5. Pour fondue into bowl; place on platter.
6. Surround with fruit.
7. Serve with skewers.
***Or skip the fruit and skewers its Lover's fondue and almond is good for the complexion***


Chocolate Covered Cherries

* 2 cups powdered sugar (you may want to use more to thicken it up, some people have used another cup full)
* 1/4 cup margarine
* 1/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
* 1 teaspoon vanilla
* 1 pinch salt
* maraschino cherry, drained
* milk dipping chocolate (I use giridelli's)

1. Combine the first 5 ingredients until well blended and smooth and place in fridge until firm.
2. Meanwhile spread out the drained cherries on a cookie sheet and freeze for at least 1 hours.
3. Scoop out about 1-2 teaspoon of filling and form into a ball around a cherry.
4. Place on a wax paper lined cookie sheet and freeze for 1 hr after you have formed them all.
5. Melt dipping chocolate and using your hands dip each cherry placing it on a wax paper lined cookie sheet and chill in fridge until chocolate is solid.
6. Remove cherries carefully as not to break them open and loose the center.
7. Place in an airtight plastic container and keep in a cool dry place for up to 1 month.

Baby=Love

Breastfeeding Rocks

Yay, today we reached the 4 week breastfeeding milestone!!!

A Birth Story

January 13, 2009, I woke up with some intense Braxton-Hicks contractions, around nine I went in for my routine prenatal doctor's appointment only to discover that my blood pressure was 160/90, protein was spilling over into my urine, and was 2cm dilated. My doctor asked me to go into triage at the Women's Hospital to be screened for pre-eclampsia. Deep down I knew we would not be leaving without a baby so I went home first to gather my bags and husband.

We got admitted into triage rather quickly (whoever invented pre-registration was a genius, kudos to you!) where I was strapped to all kinds of fun monitors; Baby heart rate contraption-check! Contraction reader-check! Evil painful blood pressure cuff-check! And because the hospital finds it necessary to hire blood hungry vampires I got one of those too! Just for kicks and giggles, I managed to muster up a whopping 180/120 BP and a killer migraine. My nurse said the forbidden C-section word so then I had no choice but to pull out the birthplan (a tool that makes every O.B. nurse cringe) and informed everyone that no matter what I was having this drug free, minimally invasive , beautiful birth despite my condition as long as the baby wasn't in danger.

There really was no choice but to have my membranes ruptured due to rising blood pressure, things needed to be moved along. Around 5pm the dam gates were released and I braced myself for the long hours ahead. Warm showers, long walks, birthing ball, back massages, a double cheeseburger smuggled from Burger King, a lot of love, and an abundance of prayer became my sources of sustenance for the next 14 hours of drug free back labor.

I had mentally been preparing quite some time for having this baby naturally as possible, but my body physically failed me. After putting my best efforts forward to avoid drugs the news that my cervix wasn't dilating served as a punch to the gut. For the record, the 14 hours of natural back labor that was endured was not in vain as it now serves as a treasured belief that I can do anything!

The next 12 hours passed in a blur as I experienced everything from pitocin to 2 rounds of epidural, a husband that almost passed out, and still no precious baby in site. At this point we had passed the 24 hour mark of broken water and according to hospital policy Cesarean section becomes imminent, but my godsend of a doctor believes in birth, and most importantly believed in me. My mother led us in prayer and within an hour I went from 6cm to 9 1/2cm. I never became a complete ten due to a mal-positioned cockeyed baby but with the assistance of a vacuum I pushed baby out like our lives depended on it.

My labor process took 34 1/2 hours. Conditions were less than ideal resulting in the very necessary interventions, I did not achieve a drug free childbirth but I tried my very best and at the end of two very long days of preeclamptic back labor it is a miracle that surgery was avoided, I consider my birth experience successful and am looking forward to trying again.

Goal #53 Complete: I got a Samsung Glyde

For my Birthday my husband bought me a Samsyng Glyde, I had been in need of a new phone for quite some time and being practical I had indicated that I would like the env2 but my gadget-man of a husband decided I needed something far more superior and thats how I ended up with this fancy schmancy shiny device . I really like it because it makes texting so much easier and it even takes really good quality photos like this one...




and this one...

Goal # 33 Complete!!! Engagement/Wedding Ring Fits Again

After 3 months of not being able to wear my wedding set, I can now easily slide it on and off my finger, I'm so happy!!!

Returning to Blog World: Andrew's First Weeks

Hi everyone,

Its been awhile since I have posted an update- As expected we have been pretty busy since the birth of Andrew; Our days and nights have been filled with bonding, nursing, diaper changes, sleeping, and lots of love.

Andrew is now 3 weeks old a little over 8lbs and cuter than ever. Each day he grows more alert and interactive. If you kiss his neck he make the cutest happy baby noises and he loves locking eyes with Mama and Daddy. The experts say they are not yet capable of smiling, "its just gas" but we all know better, he really is the happiest baby around!

Every moment with him is so precious, in my mind its absolutely unfathomable that three weeks have already passed since his birth. I want time to stand still so I can breathe in all the baby goodness.

Some of our major milestones this past month include Andrew's first trip to Daddy's hometown, bath, doctor's visit, trip to the mall, and dinner outing. He has established that as long as his cornucopias milk supply is near he is content for all the adventures yet to come.

Baby Announcement

*Drum Roll Please* After 39 weeks 1 day gestation, 32 hours of labor, and a bit of hard pushing, I would like to take this time to introduce the newest member of our family...

Mr. Andrew Russell Choisser
Born January 14, 2009 @ 7:35pm
7 lbs 10 oz, 20 1/2 inches long

"Behold, children are a gift of the LORD, The fruit of the womb is a reward." -Psalm 127:3

He is a perfect combination of his Mommy and Daddy- He has black clurly hair, a dimpled chin, a lip curl, sideburns that would make Elvis proud, and his ears are shaped like Mommy's and Ridgy like Daddy's.

He also has pretty almond shaped eyes just like his Great-Grandpa Sparky and feet just like his name-sake Great-Pappa Russell.

We are so proud and thankful to welcome this new little man into our world.

101 Goals for 2009

On the right column of my blog you should be able to see a list titled "101 Goals for 2009". This is a list of reasonable things I can see myself acheiving in the next year and upon completion of each goal I will put the date it was completed and more than likely write a blog about it.