My First Video Attempt

I am attempting my first video upload...not like it should be a hard thing, it's just my fancy and confusing video camera that is getting to me! And the picture quality is poor because the lighting in our room wasn't good and I didn't have the light on on the camera, which I should have. But it's still cute and fun to watch (well I think so anyway)! It just gives you a small sample of Maia signing some things and even saying a few words. You'll want to pause the music on the playlist first, so that you can hear the video, just a little FYI. I'm sure the grandparents will enjoy this the most!

Recipe Time

Since I never seem to be able to remember to post a recipe on Monday, as was the original plan, I've just decided to try to post them weekly...we'll see if I'm even very good at that! This recipe is one that I just got from my sister in law. I've only made it once and I still have a few kinks to work out (and even then, it'll probably never taste like Julie's!), but David loves it and it really is so much better than buying noodles. So here it is.... (I'm only putting the recipe down for the noodles--that way you can keep your favorite soup recipe and just add these to make it so much tastier!)

Homemade Noodles

5 Eggs
1 Tbl. Salt (I'll probably only do 1/2 Tbl. next time because I used chicken bouillon for my soup base which is salty as well, so it really didn't need that much more, but do what you think is best)
1/3 cup olive oil
1/2 cup cold water
Add flour to thicken

Mix eggs, salt, olive oil and water together in large bowl. Then gradually add in flour, enough to thicken it into a dough that is still kind of sticky, but workable. I wish I would have kept track of how much flour I added, but of course, I didn't. It was quite a bit though and I don't think I added enough because when I went to roll it out, it was really sticky and wouldn't come off of the counter very well at all (see what I mean by I still have some kinks to work out!) Anyway, once you have the dough to the right consistency, roll it out onto a counter that has been covered in flour and then cut the dough into squares with a pizza cutter. When the soup is boiling, add the noodles and let it cook for 20 minutes.

If anybody tries this and finds the perfect amount of flour to add, I'd love a comment from you!

The Latest Family Pic

This is our latest picture of the family, taken on the beach at Christmas. I thought it turned out pretty good, so I decided to post it. Maia has a great smile...but there's a good story behind it. It was getting kind of cold outside since it was getting towards evening time and Maia was getting a little bit cranky and not really in the mood to smile for the pictures. The only way we could get her happy was if David threw her up in the air. She would come down just laughing and laughing. So notice how David's hands are...he had just barely caught her and the picture was snapped at the most perfect time. Whatever works right?

American Idol!!!

So I have to admit that I can get to be a little bit of an American Idol fan...I know, I know, it's kind of a weakness of mine, but it really is so fun to watch. Anyway, last night was the first night of the new season and since David is just a little preoccupied with school (his first physiology exam was today), I decided to call up the girls and have a Girl's Night Out. I can't think of too many things that are better than girlfriends, treats, and a whole lot of laughter. We had a good time--I think we'll have to make it a weekly ritual, especially since there were some who couldn't come (Megan just quit that job, okay?)


This picture isn't that great, but I had to set it up on our kitchen table and do the self-timer thing because David wasn't home to take the pictures!

Randomness...

This post is kind of just random pictures put together, but oh well right? The picture below I took on one of our first days back from Christmas vacation...it was really cold and so everything was kind of iced over one morning. When the sun came out, everything just glistened and was actually, well, beautiful (even though I hate to admit it because it was so dang cold!) The picture just doesn't do it justice, but I had to include it to remind myself that there really are good and beautiful things about every season!
These next few pictures are of our trip to the Niagara Falls Aquarium. We went there before David had to go back to school. Maia loved looking at all of the fish. It was really fun to take her.

Maia and Dad posing in the shark jaws.
Maia and Mama waiting for the sea lion show to start.
Above is "Julie" the sea lion doing an awesome flip. David was so proud that he caught it at the right moment...especially with our camera! The pictures below are just fun outside pictures--after our amazing days of 66 and 67 degree weather, it cooled off a bit, but one of the days it was still in the 40's and with NO WIND...so those are perfect days to bundle up a little and get outside. We went for a long walk and the played out on the porch. And if you read one of my last posts, you know what happened when it was time to go inside for a nap...yes, lots of big tears and tantrums. I took a picture of her crying her head off, but I couldn't bring myself to post it, I thought it would just be too mean!
Above are Maia and Dada coloring with crayons. Maia is really starting to like drawing on paper now. We just have to supervise her with the big crayons because after a while, they can look pretty tasty and big chunks of them start to go missing, if you know what I mean!

Oh and one more thing...thanks to those who gave me advice on how to rearrange my pictures. It worked wonders! No frustration at all--Hooray!!

Record Breaking High Temps!!

Miracles really do happen!! Today we had record high temperatures---67 degrees! Can you believe it? It was so wonderful. I actually got really hot when I was outside in just a thin jacket. Maia and I tried to make the most of it....we went on a REALLY long walk this morning and then played out on our back porch until it was nap time. Then it was really traumatic to try to get her to come inside--that girl absolutely LOVES being outside. There were many tears involved and even some mini-tantrums, but she recovered, thankfully.
On another note, I haven't posted a recipe on my blog for a long time, so I decided I better get back with it!! This recipe comes from Martha Stewart's website--my sister and her husband cooked them for us when we were in Texas and they were so delicious (I had never even tried parsnips before or even knew what they were really for actually). I cooked them up again the other day and they once again tasted super good, so they are highly recommended! Let me know what you think.

Maple Glazed Parsnips and Carrots

Ingredients:

Serves 4 to 6 .

• 1 1/4 pounds (about 6) parsnips, peeled, halved lengthwise
• 3/4 pound thin carrots, (about 12), peeled, greens trimmed but not removed (I removed the greens when I cooked them)
  
• 4 slices bacon, each cut into 4 pieces (we used turkey bacon for this, just for a little FYI)
  
• 10 sprigs fresh thyme (you can also use rosemary)
  
• 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
• Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees, with rack in lower third. Place parsnips, carrots, bacon, and thyme in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet.
2. Drizzle with syrup; season with salt and pepper. Toss well to combine.
3. Bake until bottoms of vegetables begin to caramelize and turn dark brown, about 20 minutes. Remove from oven, and toss vegetables carefully. Return to oven, and bake until all sides are well browned, about 25 minutes more. Discard bacon and thyme. Serve immediately.

Back to cold, cold Buffalo....sigh....

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone!! I hope your Christmas was as wonderful as ours was!! We got to spend our vacation on the warm, sandy beaches of Port Aransas, Texas with my family. We had several days of sun, sand and 70 degree weather!! It was such a blast. Now our trip to get there was not such a fun time, which is a whole other story, but lets just say that we finally made it to our beach house at 3am on Christmas....we were supposed to get there at about 5 pm on Christmas Eve. Leave it to the wonderful Buffalo weather to delay flights, etc!! The flight delay actually wouldn't have been TOO bad had it not been for the booking agent who accidentally rescheduled our flight to arrive at the wrong airport in Houston. Even that would have been manageable if the rental car place would have transferred our reservation to the other airport as well...but they didn't...anyway, long story short, we ended up flying into the International airport (where we were supposed to originally) so that we could pick up our rental car. Then we had to rent a car seat (even though I brought ours with us!) so that we could drive to the other airport in Houston (about a 40 minute drive) to pick up our luggage. After all of that, we were finally on our way to the Beach!! Poor little Maia was so exhausted by the time we finally started driving. She fell asleep the instant she was buckled in and we started moving! But who cares about that whole saga?? We got to lay out on the beach at the end of December for crying out loud! You can't beat that! I actually got a sunburn on one of the days. There were a few days that were a little overcast and colder than others (the term "Cold" is all relative though!) When I say it was colder in Texas-talk, I mean it was in the low t0 mid 60's. It still felt pretty warm to me!! But my favorite days were the ones where the sun was shining and the temps were in the 70's.
David even got to go out deep sea fishing one of the days with all of the "boys." He had a really good time and caught a few big ones--shark and King Mackerel I think. We cooked up the shark and I was actually surprised at how good it was.
Anyway, it was definitely hard to come home, especially since this morning we woke up and the temperature outside was a blazin' 8 degrees, but I guess all good things have to come to an end sometime right? I just keep telling David that after these four years are over, we are moving someplace WARM.
And as usual, I've uploaded a hundred zillion pictures because I couldn't decide which ones I liked best. At first I tried to somewhat organize them, but gave up quickly, as you can see. So sorry for the hap-hazard way they are posted. Do any of you know how to rearrange pictures once you have already uploaded them to the blog? I have yet to figure that one out, so any suggestions would be appreciated. I always end up deleting them, which really frustrates me!! Anyway, on to the pictures!

Maia and Dada on the beach after family picture taking...I will post some of the family pix once my little bro sends them to me!

More playing on the beach.


Momma and Maia posing for the camera.
Maia, Aunt Cheyenne, and cousin Austin. Austin got to be quite afraid of Maia because she can give some really powerful hugs (yes, the kind that knock over little kids....hmmm, maybe she's trying to tackle them? No, not my innocent little girl....)
Nana, Maia, and Poppy. Maia was a little hesitant with my dad at first because of the mustache, but it didn't take long before she warmed up to him...she was even giving him kisses at the end of the week, still trying to figure out what that scratchy thing on his face was!
Maia and cousin River hugging...they loved each other and had a great time playing together. One of River's favorite things to do is to play "baby maia" where she is Maia, her mom is "Crescent" and her dad is "Toadie" (David's nickname growing up was Toad for those of you who didn't know that...for some reason it still sticks as far as the kids are concerned!)

I love this picture of David and Maia walking on the beach...so cute!
This is the ferry that we would take to cross over the water when we wanted to go into town. It was fun!
Maia and Poppy chasing the birds on the beach. Maia got so excited to see the birds--she would run after them, then they would fly further away, so she'd stop for a second and sign "please" and then start chasing them again. I think she was puzzled as to why she couldn't get the birds when she was asking so nicely! Silly girl.
...and more sand and sun.

Cousin River getting buried in the sand.
Maia absolutely loved playing in the ocean....I mean this girl has NO fear, which scares me sometimes!! But I think the look on her face says it all.
Pictures of our place...Above is the dining/living room area. The back patio doors look out right over the ocean.
Master bedroom, again with a beautiful view of the ocean.
Maia's bedroom, as if she really slept in those beds!! It doesn't look very cute in this picture because I took the bedspreads off the bed and put them on the floor in Maia's little corner where she slept.
The view from our back patio.
Maia was so excited to see her Aunt Seri. The minute she saw her she ran up to her and gave her a big hug. It was so cute.
This is how we spent Christmas Day!! Playing on the beach and in the ocean--life just doesn't get any better than that.


This is one of my favorite pictures of Maia...she is a strong runner--so determined!! She must get that from her Momma....just kidding. Check out the cottage cheese thighs....now it might be more accurate to say that she gets those from her Momma!