Author: jennifer

Ten Months

Musings on Life and Beauty

Today my baby is 10 months old.   She is in one of my favorite stages, so full of joy and excitement.  This morning she woke up earlier than the others and my husband and I snuggled with her for a while.  After she ate, she gave us the cutest smile of all time:  sleepy, full, content.  I hope I never forget what it looked like.  It was a smile of utter happiness.


She’s climbing up on everything, walking along the edge of the couch, standing on her own when she feels brave.  I keep telling myself that she’s still little, but when I walked around the corner and saw this, I had to admit she’s growing.


She could hear all the big kids playing on the porch and wanted so much to see what they were doing.


This week she learned how to sit in grass with her legs up.  She doesn’t like how prickly it is, so she figured out how to balance with only her diaper touching the ground.


I love her enthusiasm for food.  She now has two teeth and can chomp on much of what the family eats.


I also love watching her when she’s full and getting tired, but she doesn’t want to stop eating.  She lays her head down and takes a few more bites.


I love this little girl so much.  I love the way she’s so flexible that she just folds up into a little ball when you hold her.  I love the way she snuggles with me.  I love her smile, and I love her eyes.  I’m so glad she’s here and she’s ours.


Hopeful Homemaker

One comment

Happy Birthday

Musings on Life and Beauty

Wednesday was my husband’s birthday.


I can’t remember the last time he had a more exhausting day than his birthday turned out to be, and we’ve had some tough days in recent weeks and months.  I bought doughnuts to go with breakfast so we could sing to him early in the day, but the box sat on our counter until 6:30 p.m.  The doughnut was the first thing he’d had time to eat all day.  It was  a really crazy day and I wish I’d been able to soften it more.  Relentless days like this remind me what a huge commitment it is for a man to provide for a family.  He does it without complaint.

I am so grateful for him and for all he does in behalf of our family.  He is by far the better parent in our marriage.  I feel so blessed to have him.  He is one amazing man.

Leave a comment

Chocolate Chip Brownies

Desserts

My mom recommended this recipe to me recently, and when I needed to take dessert somewhere at the last minute, I went for it.  It’s a Betty Crocker recipe , but we saw it on Bakerella’s site .

chocolate chip brownies
You could easily make this recipe from scratch, but I didn’t.  After all, I was looking for something quick and last minute.  I use brownie mixes all the time, but have never used a cookie mix before.  I don’t think I’d use one to make cookies, but for this recipe it was great.

Here’s how it works.  Prepare a brownie mix according to directions and pour it into your baking dish.  Now prepare a chocolate chip cookie mix according to directions and drop it by spoonfuls onto the brownie mix.


Yum.  Looks good.


Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes.


Allow brownies to cool, about 1 hour.  You can frost them with chocolate frosting or go with Bakerella’s idea and make a chocolate ganache.  I decided to make the ganache because I had some whipping cream in my refrigerator.


For the ganache, melt 12 ounces of chocolate in 3/4 cup whipping cream.  Bakerella adds butter to hers, but I’ve never tried it that way.  I’ll have to try it sometime.  Spread over brownies.


Allow the ganache to cool and set, about 1 more hour.  Cut into bars and enjoy!


My family enjoyed these brownies.  I liked the simple preparation that provided a twist on traditional brownies.  We’ll certainly make these again!

Hopeful Homemaker

2 comments
1 … 417 418 419 420 421 … 525