This Weekend in Pictures

We had the best weekend.  Friday afternoon was spent at the park playing and taking a walk around the lake.  Saturday we cleaned out the flower beds, hit the Home Depot for some pretty new flowers and planted all of the pots and beds.  Tim surprised me with tickets to see Junip this coming Saturday as my Mother's Day present.  It was really sweet, and it happens to be on the same day that we had our first date eleven years earlier and at the same place.  Sunday I got up and cleaned and then my mom and dad and sister and her family came over for lunch and then we went for frozen yogurt, but the frozen yogurt machine was broken so that was a bummer, but the kids had ice cream so they were happy.  After that we walked across the street to a flower market and my mom and dad let the kids each pick out some flowers to buy for my sister and I.  Later we came home and the kids played for a while and then we went over to the church next door and the kids practiced riding their bikes.  It was the first day for Iris without training wheels and while she was a little scared at first she was doing pretty good by the time we left.  Harper was riding his balance bike and the kid is a little demon on it.  He figured out how to ride with his feet up and was cruising all through the parking lot. He was even going down hill and through puddles.  It was a great weekend spent with my family and just hanging out with the kids.

I drank too many of these, they are so good but they don't sell them in our city so Tim buys them when he's away on business.

Iris having fun on the swings in the park

H hanging out in the tunnel

I love this little face 

Daddy and Iris

Love

Harper made me this at school on Friday.  So sweet.

My little garden helper

My big garden helper :)

bugs.

Homemade pizza on Saturday, yum.

Strawberry shortcake for dessert.

Sunday bike riding.

Iris, getting the hang of it.

How was your weekend?

-Kim

A Moment

I took a few minutes this weekend to walk around the yard with Iris and take a few pictures of this ever growing, sweet girl.  Almost seven.  I really can't believe it.  We picked a pretty white Iris while we were out there.  I only have a small patch of these but I think I might plant some more colors this year.  The yard is in full bloom and even with the weeds attempting to take over it is lovely.  I hope we get some relief from the rain that we have been having so I can spend some more time on these walks with my loves.

-Kim

I'm Back!!

Anybody who still bothers to read this probably knows that I started blogging over at D.I.Y. Louisville late last year.  I'm busy as a bee over there blogging about crafty and local stuff and had pretty much abandoned this blog.  Much has been going on in my life and I see blogging here as a new opportunity to journal the many thoughts I have everyday.  So be prepared, I have lots to say.  You probably won't be seeing much crafty stuff here, but you'll be hearing a lot about my current weight loss plan, my family and kids, my thrifty goals, my crazy ass ideas and maybe you can struggle through some pictures of me as I attempt to be more fashionable.

So first things first, I have been on Weight Watchers since January.  I really can't believe I had let my self get so out of control.  My weight was crazy.  I had been eating fast and bad for years and dealing with my emotions by shoving food in my face.  Since January I have lost 37 lbs and I feel so amazing.  It's been hard, I've struggled with new ways to cope with my emotions and learning to eat for fuel not for fun.  I love Weight Watchers, I have tried so many diets that didn't work because they were diets.  I think it's impossible to stay on a diet for your entire life.  Weight Watchers has been slowly teaching me how to eat to be healthy.  I still have  along way to go to reach  my goal weight, like about 75 lbs.  I hope you guys will join with me as I reach my goals!

So I'm sharing a terrible picture of myself from November 2010 that made me want to cry and one from Easter 2011.

Starting:

I'm in the cranberry dress.  This is at my sister's wedding.  She has also lost 35 lbs since then.

Current:

-Kim

Triple Lemon Cake

It's my dad's birthday today and of course that gives me a reason to bake. Dad's not a huge chocolate fan, his tastes lean more towards lemon or coconut. Well we have had coconut cake lots over the years as this is my mom's specialty, so this year I went for lemon. I had an idea of what I wanted, a light, moist cake with a nice crumb and subtle lemon flavor, filled with lemon curd, and topped with lemon cream cheese frosting. Don't ask me why, but this is just what I had in my head. So I searched and searched for the right recipe, and ended using a cake recipe from Country Living, a lemon curd recipe from Martha and my own lemon cream cheese frosting recipe. I love the texture and flavor that the cake recipe has, it's just what I had in mind, a nice big impressive cake. The lemon curd is a beautiful recipe, it comes out so pretty and I think I may try to make some to jar and gift with scones. The only thing I would change is to maybe add a little more lemon zest and sugar, I really like a sweet, lemony curd. The frosting is pretty standard and I will of course give you the recipe. I'm just really amazed that I managed to get this cake done, Sweets was out of school today and for some reason the kiddos have decided to fight non-stop since waking. It's midday and I'm already exhausted, so glad that my husband is leaving work early today so we can go to dinner with my parents. I'm ready for the weekend!

Last but not least, I just want to give everyone a little tip involving bread machines, make sure you put it far back on the counter when using it, mine took a flying leap off of the counter yesterday while I was making dough. It managed to take all of my knifes off of the counter with it, and my chef's knife shattered, so I'm off today to purchase a new one. In light of my beloved bread machine almost coming to a disastrous end I've decided that she needs a name. I'm thinking Stella, but if you have any better suggestions let me know.

Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting:

2- 8oz. boxes of cream cheese, softened
6 c. confectioners sugar
3 tbs. butter, softened
2 tsp. lemon extract or more to taste

Cream the cream cheese with the butter until soft and creamy. Add the lemon extract. Add the confectioners sugar 1 c. at a time. Add any food coloring if you want to tint the icing. I used sky blue for part of mine and left the rest uncolored for decorating.
-Kim

Cheese Crackers for Playgroup

Well it has been a very long week. My cousin and her sweet little baby are leaving today for Japan. They will be gone for three years and are only going to get to come home once this June. All I can say is that we will be missing them dearly. I took the baby's picture this week and luckily have gotten to spend some quality time hanging out with them the last few weeks. But their leaving has left me very sad, so what is one to do when they are sad? Bake. Spending time in the kitchen measuring, kneading, mixing, all make my mind clear. I don't have to think for a while about whatever is upsetting me, just about the crackers or scones I am preparing. This week I decided to make something for the little ones for play group as well as the moms. So I thought what do the 3-6 year old crowd like? Cheese crackers of course. So I looked around at some recipes and then sort of combined some to get a flavor that would be more kid friendly. I also decided to make them into twists because that just seemed fun. For the moms I revisited the cinnamon-pecan scones from my previous post, because they were one of my favorite things I have ever made and I wanted to try the maple syrup in them. I'm still undecided about which I like best, but I think I have decided that scones are my official favorite baked good item. So here is the recipe for the cheese crackers:

1-1/4 c. all purpose flour
1/2 c. cornmeal
1 tsp salt
1/4 c. butter
1-1/4 c. shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 c. cold water

In a large bowl combine the flour, cornmeal and salt stir to combine. Cut in the butter with a pastry cutter until small crumbs form. Stir in the cheese. Add the water a little at at time until the dough forms a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour. Heat oven to 425. After dough is chilled divide in half and place one half on a lightly floured surface and roll until about 10x10 in size, cut into half inch strips. On a lightly greased pan or silpat liner place each strip, slightly twisting and pressing down the ends to hold in place. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until crispy, will keep in an airtight container, but I found if you want them to be crispy you may want to reheat them in the oven for a few minutes.

Speaking of favorite dessert type items, last night we went to our favorite ice cream place, "The Pie Pantry" to say farewell to my cousin. We spent many a day there over the summer and if you live in Louisville you have to check it out. They have the best ice cream and desserts in town and pretty yummy coffee, as well as totally reasonable prices. They have a really great atmosphere, it's comfortable, the staff is nice, and it's usually not to crowded. They also serve lunch; sandwiches, salads and soups which are really tasty too. They serve Ehrler's ice cream and I usually go for the cherry vanilla although last night I had the chocolate covered cherry sundae, which is seriously unbelievable. Just imagine cherry vanilla ice cream on top of a brownie, covered with chocolate sauce, cherries and whipped cream, trust me it was even better than it sounds. They also offer ice cream to take home and they have a wide assortment of pies, cakes, and other baked goods that can be bought by the slice or whole. They even do decorated cakes and wedding cakes. So it may be winter and we're all freezing our butts off, but head on over to The Pie Pantry and have a slice of something.

-Kim