Cute Daddy Pictures

In honor of Father's Day, I thought I'd post some of my favorite pictures of Todd with the kids.
I am stealing this idea from my sister-in-law Emily's Blog. These pictures have always been my favorites:

Newborn Ethan's Favorite Spot

Ethan's first time walking on AM/PM Beach, Sudden Valley, Washington

Ice Skating with Daddy

Looking at Madeline in the NICU

Adoring her Daddy

I love you Todd! Thanks for being a wonderful father to our kids!

Necktie Cupcakes

Happy Father's Day!!!


These cupcakes were a fun little project!

Cereal

Cereal is a food group in our house! All four of us love cereal and eat is several times a day. For breakfast without question (ask Ethan and he’ll tell you that pancakes are for dinner), for snacks, and for an after dinner filler. My favorite cereal is Cinnamon Life and has been for over 10 years, though I usually like to mix my cereal. My current favorite mix is Cinnamon Life, Rice Krispies, and Multigrain Cheerios. It’s a fantastic texture and taste combo. Sometimes I’ll get four or five kinds of cereal in my bowl at once. My kids love to mix cereal too. Perhaps that is why our kitchen table looks like this every single morning:

Three kinds of milk and nine (give or take) kinds of cereal. This doesn’t even count the seven or eight boxes of sugar cereal kept high on the top shelf that Todd eats.

Key Lime Cheesecake with Mango Ribbons

Maybe your Dad would like a slice of this on Sunday:

Dad, I'm bringing you some soon!!!

Key Lime Cheesecake with Mango Ribbons
From The Gourmet Cookbook

For Crust:
1 ¼ cups graham cracker crumbs (from 9 full sheets)
3 TBLS sugar
½ stick (4 TBLS) unsalted butter, melted

For Filling:
2 (8oz) packages cream cheese, softened
1 cup plus 2 TBLS sugar
¾ cup strained key lime juice
½ cup sour cream
½ tsp vanilla extract
2 ½ TBLS flour
¼ tsp salt
3 large eggs

For Topping:
2 large, firm but ripe mangos
1 TBLS key lime juice
½ cup very cold heavy cream
1 TBLS sugar

Special Equipment: a 9- to 9 ½-inch springform pan; a mandoline or other adjustable blade slicer, such as a Japanese Benriner

Make the crust: Put a rack in middle of oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees. Stir together crumbs, sugar, and butter in a bowl with a fork until well combined. Press evenly onto bottom and one third of the way up sides of pan. Bake crust for 8 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool. Reduce oven temperature to 325.

Make the filling: Beat cream cheese in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until fluffy. Beat in sugar. Reduce speed to low, add lime juice, sour cream, and vanilla, and mix until smooth. Mix in flour and salt until just incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl with a spatula as needed. Add eggs and mix just until incorporated. Pour filling into crust. Put cheesecake on a baking sheet with sides and bake until just set in center, 1 hour to 1 hour and 10 minutes. Transfer to rack to cool completely. (cake will continue to set as is cools.)

Make the topping: Peel mangoes. Leaving fruit whole, slice mangos lengthwise very thinly with slicer. Halve wider slices lengthwise. Gently toss mango slices with lime juice. Beat cream with sugar in a small bowl at medium speed until it just holds stiff peaks. Spread over top of cheesecake. Bending and curling mango slices, arrange them decoratively over cream.

Sad

I was leaning over the kitchen counter reading something with Madeline in my arms when she reached over, grabbed my camera strap, and flung my camera (which had the external flash hooked on) onto my tile kitchen floor. My camera had been inside the case, but apparently if it’s not zipped up inside, it isn’t safe. I went hysterical, let’s be honest. The external flash busted off and into pieces, the batteries popped out and flew through the air, and the lens cap rolled across the floor. Did I mention that I went hysterical? It would be one thing if it was just a camera, but to me, it isn’t just a camera. It’s my favorite hobby, one of my greatest joys, and a part of me. And expensive.
My reaction made Madeline start sobbing too. Luckily my mom was visiting, so she took Madeline while I went to my camera. The external flash is broken. The pop-up flash on my camera is broken too. My camera still works and I’m grateful to say that my lens didn’t break, so I guess it could be worse. But I’m still very sad. Despite it all, my thoughts quickly turned back to Madeline. I love her with all my heart and I’m grateful that it was my camera and not her that cracked into pieces on my kitchen floor this morning. Some things can’t be replaced.

Ethan's New Bike

We bought Ethan a bike this past weekend! He's never had one before; never even had a trike, so he was very excited. At first he had no idea how to pedal, but he caught on quick. He still spends quite a bit of time looking at his feet, which means we have to steer, but he'll be a champion bike rider in no time! He loves it and I'm so happy he finally has a bike!

Flag Day Breakfast

We enjoyed going to a Flag Day Breakfast this morning with my parents. At the breakfast, they honored the firefighters and Ethan and Madeline got to spend some time by the fire trucks.

Ethan also got to help hold up the HUGE American flag during the National Anthem.

We all had fun, despite the rain! What a great country we live in!