Eli's 1st birthday (photo shoot)

family photo shoot

In the fall, we had a friend take some family pictures.  I thought I'd share =)

blueberry scones

I just opened my Kitchen Aid =)  It is now sitting cozily in a spot I made for it on one of the kitchen counters.
I decided when I opened it that I wanted to bake!  So, I did.  I made blueberry scones.....


These babies are de-li-cious!  They are fluffy and light and slightly sweet.  Mmmmmm.  And, so quick to make.

You need:
2 cups of flour
1/2 cup of sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 tablespoon grated orange zest *i didn't have this, so i left it out*
1/2 cup of cold butter, cut into small pieces *the recipe says salted, but i always use unsalted*
1 egg
1/2 cup of heavy cream *i used half and half*
1 cup of blueberries

What to do:
-Stir the first four ingredients in the big bowl of your stand mixer.
-cut in the pieces of butter until the mixture resembles small crumbs*I waited until this step to take the butter out of the fridge.  The colder the butter, the fluffier the scone.  I used a pastry blender to do this, but you could use the dough or paddle attachment on your kitchen aid*
-With the kitchen aid on slow speed, add in the egg and 1/2 cup of cream
-Fold in the blueberries until just incorporated.
-Flour your hands, and take dough out of the bowl.  Place on a floured surface and roll out into a rectangle.  Cut into 8 triangles.  Place the triangles on a greased baking sheet. *you could line your baking sheet with parchment paper if you're worried about burning the bottoms*
-Bake at 400 for 18-20 minutes *mine took 18 minutes*

They're super yummy straight out of the oven with a cup of coffee or tea =)  They're also good for the next few days.  Store in an air tight container.

some more snow day fun

We *finally* got some snow!  Maybe because the weather men said we wouldn't get any?  Figures... =)  The kids didn't have school today, so they're outside playing!

I took some pictures while Eli was napping...

building

the boys wanted some plastic bowls and spoons to help building their city

jaden, the snow warrior

the snow cream stash .. the boys insisted i keep these bowls safe in the freezer 

jaden's friend was working too hard to stop and pose for a picture

this is the best i could get of our back yard.  i waited too long and the kids pretty much trampled all the snow =)

the view from our front door

snow day!

Today is the first day we actually have snow on a snow day!  Wahoo!  Jaden was pumped.  He and the neighborhood kids played outside for a while.  I like to look at it from the window =)  

our backyard

eli likes it! =)  he was a little hesitant at first, but then loved to play with it.

jaden and his friends made snow angels all over our yard

elijah's done playing.

catch up post

Wow, time flies!  It's already the middle of December!  

A lot has happened in the Coller house the past 6 or so weeks.  My free time has been spent running, or taking Eli for walks, nursing, cleaning...etc, etc.  I'd sit down at the computer and think "I should blog" but really, I'd play around on Pinterest or scroll through my newsfeed on Facebook.  

Anyway, Eli's napping so I thought I'd actually catch everybody up! =)

*Jaden turned 6!  We had a super fun party at my parent's house.  The night before, we decorated the house and put streamers on his door.  The day of his party, we had a bouncy house and lots of delicious food and family and friends came help celebrate.

my aunt mary and i taped streamers over Jaden's door...he was supposed to walk through them, but ended up crawling underneath them! =) 

the streamers

the birthday boy

some of Jaden's friends =)

*We celebrated Black Thanksgiving (lol-get it???) in Yorktown with Derek's family.  We didn't get many pictures over break, so these will have to do =)

jaden's a goofy kid, for sure

Eli got a lot of naps in with Grandpa

by the way, Eli's 9 months!  Crazzzzy

 *We took the kids (with Grandma and Grandpa) to meet Santa at the Yankee Candle factory in Williamsburg.

and, Eli got to meet Santa for the first time

zesty lemon loaf

Brrrrr, it's cold outside!  Jaden and his friends chose to play outside this afternoon.  Kids never seem bothered by weather, do they?  (That always amazes me!)  The baby and I decided to stay inside and bake =)

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups of flour
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1/4 teaspoon of ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon of salt
1/2 cup of butter, softened
1 cup of sugar
2 eggs
1 tablespoon of grated lemon zest (I substituted lemon juice)
1/2 cup and 2 tablespoons of buttermilk (I made my own-just by adding 1 tablespoon of lemon juice to the milk)

Directions:
The loaf:
-Preheat oven to 350 degrees
-In a medium bowl, sift together the first 4 ingredients.  Set aside.
-In a separate bowl, cream together the butter and sugar
-Add eggs, one at a time
-Add the lemon zest
-Mix in buttermilk
-Fold in the dry ingredients.
-Grease a loaf pan and pour in the batter.
-Bake for 50 minutes, and transfer to a wire rack to cool.

The icing:
1/4 cup of lemon juice
1/4 cup and 2 tablespoons of white sugar
-Mix the above together until the sugar dissolves.  Pour over hot loaves and let cool.