My mother in-law, Linda, has a saying hung in her kitchen:

"A will finds a way."

And when it comes to baking bread, I think my will has finally found its way. After several years of bake-fail-bake-undercook-bake-underrisen-bake-burn-bake-{insert tears here}-bake-overknead-bake-underknead-etc., I think I finally have it. Many thanks to my friend, Kelly, for her superior, Jen-proof recipe. I was a completely satisfied customer when my loaves came out 1.) edible, and 2.) fully-cooked. Major bonus points to Kelly, however, because the bread is 3.) amazingly delicious. Give it a try!

p.s. we're totally buying a van today.

Look who's 1!

It's been sort of a rough-and-tumble week for us...two ER visits, two pneumonia diagnoses...antibiotics...high fevers...LOTS of staying indoors....BUT....It was birthday week at our house! So however feebly it was celebrated, we like to do birthdays big. And my baby turned 1. Much revelry was had. Many noses were wiped.

We thought that Blake was on the up-and-up, so we were happy to get him all gussied up for his birthday dinner. We made him a cake (well, we made us a cake, too...but you know...he needed his own), we lit the candle, we sang the song....and Blake didn't want anything to do with it.

heeeeeeeeeeeeeeere it comes!

Taking stock.

Stuck my finger in the cream...

The cream only made it to his face because I put it there.

I thought maybe a spoon would help him...I poked around a little to get it started.

...but he only wanted to feed me. And to be honest, I was happy to oblige.

I make a pretty darn fantastic chocolate cake.

The epilogue, though, is that he was diagnosed with croup the very next day at his well-visit. That would explain a lot about his attitude toward my cake. I'm glad I didn't have to take it personally.

ALSO:

Ian has filled out NCAA brackets since he was less than 1 month old*. This year, he wanted to make some of his own....he sat busily for quite a while...we talked about teams (he seems to have a preference for Wisconsin, Tennessee, Bucknell, Marquette, and BYU), we talked about what the word 'abbreviation' means....and then he proceeded to score his brackets. IT WAS AWESOME.

We've been trying to give Ian some more responsibilities around the house--including making his bed. He told me this morning, though, that he needed a little reminder. I suggested making and decorating a sign...and he was all over that.

*

(March 17, 2006)

In case your calendar isn't marked, 'round these parts the syrup is running. And while the syrup season in recent years has been less than stellar, we hear that this year is awesome.

A family in our stake has a sugar house, and we've gone up there nearly every year we've lived here. This year's visit was especially fun--the sap was on at a full boil and the combination of the smell/warmth/sounds and company were phenomenal. It was an exceptional way to celebrate Blake's 1st birthday!

(We're having his birthday celebration today when Joe gets home from church--don't think we're ignoring our boy. Oh, no. You just wait. Chocolate will. be. everywhere.)

It was quite warm in the sugar house...the blanket and the hat didn't last long.

(And we took home nearly a half-gallon of the good stuff.)

The syrup in the window is a sure sign of spring. (THANK GOODNESS).

The steam. OH, THE STEAM! It smelled SO delicious.

I had to remind myself that Joe was being extra careful with my baby around the boiling hot sugar.

Once the sap-turned-syrup reaches the right temperature and color, it gets drained into a 5-gallon bucket via a thick (THICK!) felt filter.

Here in New England, Spring is referred to by her better-known name of "Mud Season."

This weekend delivered. Big time.

Raise your hand if you want to come visit!

They used to have the old-fashioned metal buckets on this tree....The plastic might not be as pretty, but it still does the job. (Note: This is not how sap is collected these days. There are some pictures of the "new school" way here.)

Proper footwear required.

Joe needs some wellies.

And this is just to prove that I was there.

Blake had a birthday munchkin...we'll see how he takes to cake tonight.

Annnnnnnnd

what do you have when the real syrup comes to town?

(...and you don't have any vanilla ice cream on-hand...)

Pancakes, of course!

As my gift to you:

Sometime soon, scoop yourself some good vanilla ice cream

(The good stuff, people. Promise me it'll be the good stuff.)

Pour some warmed real maple syrup on top.

You're welcome.

Want a taste of Blake's mad dancing skills?

Untitled from Jen Jackson on Vimeo.

Snow Melt Progress, 2011

Someone's looking happy despite pneumonia. Thank goodness!



And this was what we woke up to a month ago on the bedroom window, which I thought was fantastic.


The snowpile in the culdesac is waning, and we almost have enough space to bring out the bikes and start running around. The other week we did snow baseball in the front sidewalk. That was fun.



Here's the traditional look from the front porch.



And the profile view to notice that the pile is still probably 6-8 feet deep at it's peak.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day.

I think Spring is coming. Though something happened to syruping season somewhere. I'm hoping for a good freeze this weekend so we can make it up to the sugar shack before the sap stops running for good.

Anyway, these pictures don't tell you that today was 61. I believe the melt is coming along nicely. I'll probably not have snow in May, though. Also: Jen pointed out that this time last year was when Blake was born, and we had a beautiful sunny day for that (not that Jen chose to enjoy any of that warm day outdoors!)

Here are the entries.

Rachel April 5
Liz Johnson April 6
Jennifer April 15

Molly April 17
Fromagette April 18
Jen E April 20
Linda April 21
Brianne April 22
Jeanette April 27
Amy May 1
Shara May 2
JosephJ May 5

CUTE VIDEO ALERT.

(Note: this is approximately 2 minutes of Blake doing nothing but eating beans.

And I think it's adorable. )