Recipes for May

Can you believe May is already upon us? Boy, April sure flew by. There were some yummy recipes submitted for April's issue of the recipe blog. Check out the slow cooker recipes of April:

French tip sandwiches
Slow cooker sirloin tips
"Rotisserie" Chicken
Crockpot Ribs
Tortilla Enchilada Soup
Italian Wedding Soup
Taco Soup
Easy Spaghetti Sauce
Picante chicken

Since May sneaked (yes, that is the grammatical past tense of sneak - my hubby is a English nerd, remember?) up on me, I didn't have a chance to poll the blogging community for recipe themes. So, I'm going out on a limb here and choosing May's theme myself. This month's recipe theme will be - Healthy Snacks and Appetizers.

Spring is here like gang busters and I don't know about you but I'm trying my darndest to lose some winter (and baby) weight. Spring also includes mother's day and some of you might be entertaining with some healthy appetizers. I sometimes even like to make an entire appetizer supper. I know, healthy and appetizer don't usually appear in the same sentence much less the same phrase so this might be difficult. That said, email your healthy snack/appetizer recipes to me (aliciahorn@hotmail.com) so we can start May off on the right foot! To get the ball rolling, I've added a few recipes of my own for May. Check out these yummy and healthful treats:

Strawberry banana smoothie
Apple berry salsa with cinnamon chips

Playtime with my baby

You're probably thinking to yourself, "Hmm, it's been almost 7 days since I've seen any photos of Chloe. And boy is my life incomplete!" For all of you who need your Chloe fix (aka grandma), here are some pix I took yesterday while we were playing. She's such a hoot! She certainly doesn't need any expensive toys to thrill her - give her a 99 cent ball and a coffee can and she's good to go.

What do your kids enjoy playing with?

Word cloud mania

Stole this cool bloggy activity from Shyla. Check out www.snapshirts.com to create your own bloggy word cloud. Isn't this psychedellic, dude!? What does your word cloud reveal? Guess I talk alot about cooking potatoes and Carissa Belford, eh?

Corny surprise

For all of you gals out there who are grossed out by poop, stop reading now.

With that warning in your mind, I'll proceed with my anecdote from mommying today. Last night we had dinner at my pal Melinda's house and since Chloe is getting older now she eats quite a bit of table food. I love experimenting with different things and seeing how she reacts to them. (As you can tell from her chipmunk cheeks, she never turns down an offer to try new foods). Chloe was a bit crabby so I tried giving her some corn from my dinner plate. Now, I've read lots of baby books and I couldn't recall anything negative about corn so away we went. (I do remember reading that if you feed your child beets [who feeds a baby beets?!?] then the resulting stool will be red in color. Who researches these things?) She quickly gobbled up several kernels. This morning a strange smell struck my nostrils and up we went to the changing table. Besides a revolting and powerful poopy smell, I was confronted with the corn kernels from the night before - COMPLETELY INTACT! A very strange sight indeed. So, for all you pregos out there - beware of the reappearing corn kernel phenomenon.

Anyone else have a similar experience? Please let me know if other foods do this so I can prepare myself.

A record has been made!

Well, to all of you that faithfully read my posts (side note - thank you for enduring my strange sense of humor and reading about our boring daily happenings) you know that I am a dedicated scrabble player. And through our 3.7 (or so) years of marriage, I've converted my formerly- lackadaisacal-game-playing-husband into a scrabble lover. He has suggested we play scrabble at least 3 times this past week! I think he's on a high since he recently beat me twice in a row.

But I certainly quashed his enthusiasm for the game last night! During last night's game I scored a personal best - 441 total points. Yes, that's right, your eyes ain't lying to ya' - 441!

Before this game my high was only 403. Last night I bingoed (that means I used all 7 of my tiles) twice, in consecutive turns actually, and I had several other very high scoring words.

Since we don't watch television (except for packer games and major golf tournaments), games play a big part of our lives. What are some of your favorite games? Are you obsessive about any of them?

Funny comic for bloggers

Hey guys. Saw this comic strip and thought you might get a kick out of it. I can't tell you how many times I think to myself, "I should blog this" or "I hope I remember to blog that". Sometimes I think I should keep a list of potential blog posts so they don't crowd up my already crowded brain! Am I the only blog fanatic who thinks this bloggy way?

(For some reason I couldn't get this to post in the right size. Click on it to see it more clearly.)

Another milestone

Chloe is just blowing past these milestones like they're nuttin'. Just a few days ago she started clapping! I know that probably sounds like a really small thing, but I've been teaching her how to clap for weeks and now that she's done it I'm a very proud mommy. What simple things bring me joy, eh?

Along with the clapping milestone we had a busy weekend. I had a mommy outing with my neighbor pal, Melinda (saintly mom of 6 children). We hit the town shopping and I happily helped Melinda spend some much needed money on HERSELF! We also treated ourselves to $6 haircuts and I got my hair chopped off for the summer. Pictures forthwith and forsooth (just wanted to use that word 'cuz it is so for-cool).

Also on the weekend agenda were a few rousing games of scrabble (that's our idea of a date). Matt came out the victor in both games winning first by 2 points and then royally kicking my patootie in the second game. Mr. Mayagi say, "The student has become the teachah. . ."

How was your weekend?

Whatcha doin'?

It's Friday! Yeehaw! Matt has some professor gig tonight where he has to listen to a paper being presented so it will be just me and my baby girl at home tonight. Since Matt will be gone, I plan to get a movie from the library (I'm hoping to borrow Everything is Illuminated or Crash and eat some popcorn for dinner. Anyone seen these flicks? Any other movies you recommend I see while Matt is out? When he's gone I try to get movies I know he won't like so he doesn't miss anything.

What are your plans for tonight?

Cutest kid in the universe

Ok, I know every mom thinks she's got the cutest kid ever but let's be objective here. You have to admit by looking at this photo that my Chloe Abigail is pretty stinkin' cute. Those eyelashes, that dimple, that drooly chin, those rosy chipmunk cheeks . . . . . how can I ever say no to this girl?!? (I easily say no when she whines that I'm not shoveling in her food fast enough or when she yanks roughly on my hair. Don't worry, I won't let her cuteness blind me.)

I recently entered this photo of Chloe in the Parents.com "Cutest Kid in the Universe" contest. Let's hope the judges recognize how phenomenally adorable our offspring is.

Win the contest or no, I still think she's a true beauty. Hope her smile warms your heart today. There's just nothing purer than the joy of a baby's smile, is there?

Awesome recipe for potato lovers

Here I am blogging again when I should be doing something else. I just HAVE to share this recipe with you though. I've always wanted to try it and last night I finally did. It's from my heart of the home cookbook by Susan Branch. I'm warning you, it's delicious but very labor intensive. I skipped the first couple steps and used leftover mashed potatoes and it worked splendidly. Matt commented on how yummy they were several times during dinner. They have a crisp outside and warm creamy twice baked potato inside. And just think of how cool and French you'll sound when you announce you've made potato croquettes. Enjoy!

Potato Croquettes

8 medium potatoes
2 eggs, beaten
3 Tbsp. cream or milk
salt & pepper to taste
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 cup cheddar cheese, grated
2 Tbsp. chives, minced
2 Tbsp. parsley
4 slices bacon
1/2 cup onion, minced
1/2 cup milk
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup flour
3 cups bread crumbs
oil for frying
sour cream for serving (optional)

Bake potatoes for 1 hour at 350. Cool to handle. Scoop potato pulp into a large bowl and mash well. Stir beaten eggs into potatoes and add cream/milk to hold potatoes together. Add salt, pepper, nutmeg, cheese, chives, and parsley. Stir well. Fry bacon until crisp; cool and crumble over potatoes. Pour out all but 1 Tbsp. bacon fat and saute onion in fat, slowly, until soft. Add the onions to the potato mixture and stir well. Form the potatoes into little balls or cylinders. Mix together milk and eggs into small bowl. Roll each croquette in flour; dip them in egg mixture and then into bread crumbs. Put about 1 inch oil into large skillet over medium high heat. Fry croquettes until well browned and put them on a cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for about 6 minutes. Serve hot with sour cream on the side.

Welcome, welcome to Carissa Belford!

A hearty welcome to Carissa Belford and her new blog detailing her family life: belford crew. Carissa is a dear old friend (I don't mean she's old, I mean we've been pals a long while - sheesh!) and our hearts will be forever knit through our mutual ministry in West Virginia ages ago. Check out her blog and post a comment to encourage her in this blog-mania.

Finding her voice

Just last night Chloe started vocalizing strings of "ma", "na", and this morning she added "da" to her repetoire. It's so adorable to hear her finding her voice! Since she hasn't done anything new for awhile, this new vocalizing has renewed our excitement about her development. Now we've got to get her to understand that I'm "mama" with just two syllables and Matt is "dada". Of course I'm working hard at teaching the mama part and neglecting dada.

When did your child/children say their first mama or dada?

Mission accomplished!

After much toil, frustration and a cheating method for zippers (THANK YOU JENNY MUTH! I had tried the zipper at least 10 times in the traditional method and Jenny's way worked slickly after 1 try), I finished Chloe's Easter dress in time for church this morning. I thought I was almost done (alas I had thought that for a long while) and just saved the hemming and ribbon trim for Saturday. The hem took longer than I thought keeping me up until after midnight last night. It was worth it though! Chloe loved the layers of her dress and kept picking it up to play with it. :)

Today was a LONG but enjoyable day. After scrambling to get ready in time for church, we rushed home and ate a quick snack before heading to my neighboor's house for a combined Easter dinner. What a blessing! Between her, me and her mom we made all the fixings for a sumptuous Easter dinner. The kids then hunted for Easter eggs in the backyard (which Melinda and I had hid conspicuously) and we sat around the table for a leisurely dessert and coffee.

Here are a few photos of Chloe in her lovely one-of-a-kind dress. Forgive her grimaces;the sun was in her eyes despite Matt's attempts to shadow her. Aren't our tulips lovely?

He is risen!

Today God has put the song, In Christ Alone, in my mind and heart. What a God we have! Only He has power over death.

In Christ Alone, my hope is found,
He is my light, my strength, my song.
This cornerstone, this solid ground
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm.
What heights of love, what depths of peace,
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease.
My Comforter, my all in all,
Here in the love of Christ I stand.

In Christ alone, who took on flesh,
Fullness of God in helpless babe.
This gift of love and righteousness,
Scorned by the ones He came to save.
Til on that cross as Jesus died,
The wrath of was satisfied.
And all my sins on Him were laid,
Here in the death of Christ I live.

There in the ground His body lay,
Light of the world by darkness slain.
Then bursting forth in glorious day,
Up from the grave He rose again!
And as He stands in victory,
Sin's curse has lost its grip on me.
For I am His and He is mine,
Bought with the precious blood of Christ.

No guilt in life, no fear in death,
This is the power of Christ in me,
From life's first cry to final breath,
Jesus commands my destiny.
No power of hell, no scheme of man,
Can ever pluck my from His hand.
Til He return or call me home,
Here in the power of Christ I'll stand.

8 months old today

Our Chloe Abigail is 8 months old as of today! Wow, these 8 months have just flown by. When I look at her now I see a developing small toddler instead of a tiny baby (though she was never tiny). She has an insatiable curiosity and is trying to pull herself up on things (especially the bathtub). We think she's going to skip the whole crawling thing. Crawling's totally overrated. Enjoy these few pictures of our growing girl.

























Can you tell I'm teething?
















Mom . . . . . .
















I don't do hats!
















Ta-dah!

Too ambitious?

Sigh. I'm feeling like I don't know where to start on my to-do list for today. I have a MONSTER to-do list. I think I'm busier now that I'm a stay-at-home mom than I ever was when I worked full time. My ambition for projects is my enemy sometimes. Here's what's on my to-do list today:

• finish Chloe's easter dress
• prepare supper for a neighbor
• fold laundry
• work on my online recordings
• finish planting my garden
• start researching the planet Venus for the young astronomers club
• work on Matt's website
  

Now that I've typed it out it doesn't look all that bad. It's just that each item on the list (except laundry and supper) will take a lot of time and effort. Maybe I should break my list down into more specifics? Notice that blogging is NOT on my list. :) Better dash! Any suggestions on productivity are much appreciated.

Chloe pictures for Miranda

Per my sister-in-law Miranda's request, here are some pictures of Chloe with me and Matt. :) I get so caught up in snapping photos of Chloe that I don't think about capturing us in the shots. She's much cuter than us anyway. Are you the same way? I've also posted some solo Chloe pictures of our time outside on the porch. Enjoy our doll baby.








Chloe was all dolled up for Sunday even donning pink shoes.
















Chloe wore a barrette for the first time on Sunday. My little baby is growing up!
















Mom, this photo shoot is boring. Let's get going so I can show off my cute duds.
















C'mon mom, don't tickle me there!
















Hmmmmmm, what mischief can I cause out here?

















Yay! I love being outside!

Our weekend

Well, my pal Sergio Garcia didn't do so well at the Masters. Tiger really should have won but he putted terribly so Phil Mickelson cruised to an easy victory. Other than watching pro golfers swing it out at Augusta, we had a fairly productive weekend. Matt tilled some dirt in the backyard for my garden (yay! I can't wait to get planting!). I toiled some more on Chloe's easter dress and hit some yard sales. I came away with some great deals. We've been looking forever (or so it seems) for a walker for Chloe. Turns out stores don't carry them anymore. Every book I've read on babies says they're too dangerous and shouldn't be used. Bah! I found one in great shape at a yard sale and Chloe loves it! She can go backward very well but is still figuring out how to move forward. We use it downstairs on the carpet so she can't go fast and can't fall down any steps. Have any of you moms out there used walkers with your kiddies?

Hope you all had a swell weekend and are enjoying some nice weather to cheer up your Monday!

Gearing up for the Masters

Our favorite professional sports to watch on television together are (in this order) football and golf. The packers had a horrid season but we still faithfully watched their sad games. Now that the first major golf tournament of the season is this weekend, Matt and I are pumped. We've figured out the prime times to watch and Matt has scheduled time to watch as study breaks. :)

So far, Chad Campbell is in the lead with a -6 score. Tiger though is not too far behind. Who is your favorite for this year's tourney at Augusta? The course has been lengthened considerably and some sports commentators say that only a few pros can win on such a long course. Our household favorite is Tiger but I'm hoping an underdog comes up to win the Masters. I'm personally rooting for Sergio Garcia, from Spain. He's a young player and is always in the top rankings but hasn't yet won a major tournament. Who do you pick to win?

I hope this season the golfers stray a little bit more from the traditional pleated khakis and black pants. I love the cool get-ups of the European golfers. Let's see some plaid and brighter colors guys! (Darren Clarke is pictured here in a lovely pink outfit; he's from Ireland).

Slacker day

"SSSSSlacker!" Mr. Strickland (the meanie principal from Back to the Future) yells in my head. Chloe woke at 5:30 this morning and me, being the sleep needing mommy that I am, crawled back into bed when she took her morning nap. At 9:45 we both woke and ate a late breakfast. We played on the porch and sat around in the dining room leaving the dishes undone and the bed unmade. I tried working on my two sewing projects (pajamas and Chloe's easter dress) but got frustrated with the zippers so I quit. And now, to top off my slackerdom, I'm blogging. Maybe the friday bug has bitten me or maybe the grey rainy day is affecing me or maybe I just need to enjoy Chloe today. Ever have one of these slacker days? I thank God that I can just be at home and relish my dear daughter. (Right now she's attacking our paper trash can and trying to eat things.)

Hope you're having a productive non-slacker Friday!

Crockpot recipes for April

We've already got lots of yummy sounding recipes for this month's theme - slowcooker recipes. Check them out and keep sending me your recipes (aliciahorn@hotmail.com). Much thanks to those of you that have contributed!

Here's a taste of the recipes for this month:
Picante Chicken
Easy Spaghetti Sauce
Taco Soup
Italian Wedding Soup
Tortilla Enchilada Soup
Crockpot Ribs
"Rotisserie" Chicken

Thankful

Because I stay at home with Chloe I often listen to the radio or audio books (hurray for audio books!) during the day. This morning I switched on the radio while feeding Chloe her second meal and heard a focus on the family interview with John Handford, U.S. Ambassador at large for International Religious Freedom. I know that Christians are persecuted through out the world but this radio program was eye-opening as to the extent of religious persecution. I was sad and surprised to hear that Christians are persecuted more today than during any other period in history.

I am challenged to remember our brothers and sisters around the world in prayer. Let's plead with God together to strengthen these suffering believers and to relieve their burdens. After hearing this program and reading some of the articles below I am feeling VERY THANKFUL for the religious freedom we enjoy in the United States.

Country overview of persecution
Christian persecution during Sudan's civil war
Open Doors website
U.S. Office of International Religious Freedom
Voice of the Martyrs website

April recipes

I'm a little late this month with the recipe blog since I had so many NYC trip pictures to post. Be sure to check out the recipe blog for some fabulous main dish salad recipes. I just recently posted a yummy taco salad recipe submitted by Pamela Smith.

By popular demand, our April theme is slow cooker recipes. I'm not too jived on this theme since it seems more wintery than springy. Submit some fantastic recipes to me and you might just change my mind about slow cookers. :) Email recipes to me (aliciahorn@hotmail.com) or to Katie Bruno (kbruno01@yahoo.com).

Weird happening

I was all set to post something for the recipe blog but instead I have to alert you to a weird happening taking place tomorrow.

Tomorrow, just two minutes and three seconds after 1:00 a.m. the time and date will be:

1:02:03 4/05/06

that won't happen again for another 100 years.

Thought you'd like to know. :)

NYC Trip: Part 4

Wow, I'm really dragging out the posts on our trip! Sorry about that. It's just that we did SO MUCH while we were there that I'd hate to leave anything out.

So, after the broadway musical Thursday evening we walked some more and found the Rockefeller Center plaza with its ice rink. We continued on past St. Patrick's cathedral and dragged our tired selves back to our hotel for a much needed rest. Not before stopping at Lindy's though for a piece of NY's most famous (and most expensive) cheesecake.

Friday morning we walked 4 blocks north to Central park and strolled leisurely through it soaking up the sunshine. We finished our trip with a long walk down Madison Avenue in the upper west side. Madison Avenue (once again) made us feel like hopelessly poor tourists. It was especially fun to browse through the high-end children's boutiques and to imagine the adorable dresses on my Chloe.

A BIG THANK YOU to my mom and grandma. My mom financed my trip and grandma picked up more than a few meal tabs. Thank you ladies for always being so generous to poor little me. Another thank you goes out to my dear husband, matt. Not many hubbies would assent to staying at home and being full-time daddies for 3 days. He did an absolutely fabulous job and I can tell that he and Chloe's relationship is already tighter. She has such special smiles for daddy!









Some final photos of our journey:















McD's in Times Square. ($6 for a big mac meal!)


















Rockefeller Center ice rink.

















Grandma and her pineapple cheesecake.

















Me and my brownie cheesecake at Lindy's.























The fountain in Central Park.






















The gals rest their feet in Central Park.
















NYC Art Museum.






















A fancy penthouse in the upper west side of NYC.

NYC Trip: Part 3

Friday morning began with a scant continental breakfast at the hotel so we headed to Applejack's diner for further sustenance. We walked and walked to an appropriate subway station to head down to Battery Park. There we stood in line for a LONG time and finally boarded a ferry to Liberty Island and then on to Ellis Island. The wait in line wasn't too horrible because we had lots of entertainment (steel drum players, singers, and men peddling "designer" purses, sunglasses and watches).

Liberty Island was terrific! A park ranger gave us a very informative tour and I took a plethora of Lady Liberty from every angle. Next stop was Ellis Island. We only spent an hour at Ellis and took another (not so informative but entertaining) park ranger tour.

Back in NYC I persuaded my mom and grandma to walk 6 blocks out of our way to see the World Trade Center site - ground zero. The entire area was fenced off but we were able to see the big hole inside. The area is under construction as a memorial and reflecting pool are built in honor of the 9/11 victims. I was especially moved when I saw a crudely constructed cross on site made of i-beams.

On to the subway and back to our hotel for a quick change into our play-going duds. Then we hit the pavement again and walked up to Times Square in search of a dinner spot. And boy did we find a unique one! We ate at the Starlight Diner where all the waitstaff sang and danced for our entertainment. Very cute joint with DELICIOUS hamburgers. After supper we headed to 42nd street for our musical - The Pajama Game starring Harry Connick Jr. The theater was fairly small so we had a great view of Mr. Connick during the show. He was just delightful! I felt like I was beaming during the entire show. He is by far one of the greatest singers ever (in my book). The rest of the cast was excellent as well.

Here I must break to describe our two "celebrity sightings" in NYC. We didn't actually see Antonio Banderas but we did see his car drive away from the David Letterman show and we heard the photographers clicking and shouting his name. The was our first sighting - sort of. During the intermission of The Pajama Game we headed down to the lobby and as we did I passed by Sarah Jessica Parker. At least I thought I did. I didn't get a chance to really see and I surely didn't want to gawk at her. After the play we headed down the same way to the lobby and practically tripped over her. Same voice, same hair, same mole - it was her all right.

After the play was another long walking adventure. I'll save that for part 4. :) Here are some photos of our Thursday journeys:















Very tame pigeons at Battery Park.
















My self-taken photo actually turned out well with just one try! This was on the ferry to Liberty Island.
















The view of Manhattan from Liberty Island.






















The immigrant processing room at Ellis Island.






















World Trade Center site.

NYC Trip: Part 2

After walking the massive and awe inspiring Brooklyn Bridge, we walked through the city's governmental district on our way to Chinatown. In Chinatown I bought some adorable little red chinese shoes for Chloe and we ambled leisurely through shops, bakeries, and strange Chinese grocery stores. We bought some curious items and noshed at a Chinese bakery before continuing our stroll.

On to Little Italy where ristorantes and pizzerias endlessly greeted us with delicious aromas. Each restaurant looked enchanting - lit darkly with candles and bearing white or red checkered table cloths.

We continued on through Soho where we really looked out of place. Here I thought I looked so nice in my special pink converse tennies . . . ha! Seemed as though models were continually brushing past us in spikey heels, bug eyed sunglasses, huge beaded necklaces, and unique purses. We mostly just window shopped but we did enter Bloomingdale's and almost instantly we knew we were in too deep. It must have been obvious to the salespeople also; no one bothered to ask us if we needed help finding anything - it was obvious we didn't! :) We wowed at the dresses, purses, and shoes and tried not to gawk at price tags. I even found a dress ticketed at $1,000! Unbelievable affluence, eh? We also stumbled across a designer line called "Chloe". We browsed through Chloe merchandise and we had to snap a photo of the I heart tanktop (pictured below).

By now we were starving and in need of a restroom. We walked through Washington Square Park (where competitive chess and scrabble are played - unfortunately we missed the games) and passed NYU. On to Greenwich Village where we walked and walked and walked some more in search of a quaint restaurant. We found a little Italian joint and thoroughly enjoyed the quiet atmosphere and chance to rest our feet.

Continuing on through Greenwich Village, we were enchanted by the different shops and just kept on strolling regardless of direction. After some gelato and cheese shops we realized we didn't know where we were - much less where the nearest subway station was. More walking and we found our way back to the hotel.

At the hotel, my mom and I took another stroll (can you believe our insanity?!? more walking?!?!!) down to the CBS studio where Letterman films. The lights of Times Square beckoned so we kept on ambling until we were at 42nd street. ! Sheesh, 28 more blocks on top of a very heavy walking day. We were pooped (to say the least) when we returned to the hotel once again.

Here are some photos of our journeys from Wednesday: