16 Months!

We've had a really fun month that's been full of activities. From the splash pad to play dates to visiting her grandparents in St. Louis to a trip to Chicago, it's been busy! At 16 months, LE

• Comes running, grinning, arms flailing, cup in hand at the prospect of dried cranberries. 
• Says "Uh oh!" (yes! first real word... finally!) whenever she drops something by accident or on purpose. Her second word, if you want to call it that, is "Bahh!" which means "Bam!" (as in the loud noise something makes when it's banged against something else.).
• Knows "high five" and where her eyes, nose, mouth, tongue, ears, hand, feet, and bellybutton are. 
• Loves to play hide and seek, especially with her dad. Throughout the day, she'll go sit behind the curtain, waiting for someone to notice. If we don't immediately notice, she'll send out a quick shriek and then go silent. 

• Giggles and shrieks as she's being chased or is chasing.
• Understands a lot. If I ask her "Where's your sippy cup?" she'll squat down and look under furniture or around the house until she finds it. 
• Plays with chalk and crayons by writing with them and placing them in and out of buckets. 
• Runs straight to her trike when we go outside, climbs up onto it, and tries to buckle her seatbelt.
• Waves hello and goodbye to everyone, including photos and her reflection.
• Climbs in and out of the laundry basket and other baskets.
• Rearranges our furniture.
• Asks us to read to her by bringing us books.
• Loves her babydoll LeLe and elephant chair, Felix.
• Kisses, hugs, and cuddles a lot.
• Still loves ice and eating with a fork.
• Smacks her lips loudly when she wants to eat or drink something.
• Picks and eats the grape tomatoes straight from the garden.

• Has 11 teeth, still sleeps about 12 hrs/night, takes 2 naps a day unless we're out during the morning nap time.

Splash pad, sprinkler, pool...

We're blessed to have near us a fun "splash pad" water play zone intended for toddlers to run around and, well, splash. Oh, and it's free.

This is LE's "I think I'm funny" face.

I take LE to the splash pad when we have playgroups that meet up there. This day, we went with John since he had never been, and I thought it'd be fun. The whole park is really nice-- there's a pond, two playgrounds, a couple of covered picnic areas, and little soccer fields.

It always takes LE a while to warm up to the idea of running through freezing cold water. What you don't see in these photos are all of the times that I led her out into the water area. Then, when she's ready, she plays with the dinkiest water source available. Can you even see the water coming out of the turtle's forehead? 

After barely touching it or getting sprayed by the water spout that suddenly turned on, she runs back to the sidelines. 

At the splash pad, kids her age are all independently trying to figure out the water, and the bigger kids are all running around screaming. There's not a lot of interaction going on with the little ones. The wonder and amusement for 1-2 year olds come from touching the water. 

I must say, it's really nice to have access to this splash pad when there's a lot of us wanting to get together or to have a change of pace. Though, if you don't happen to have access to a free toddler-friendly water playground... for kids LE's age, your own sprinkler or little pool can provide just as much fun. I promise.

Photo from when LE was playing with her Granny in St. Louis

Small blow up pool that we have on our patio

You can see the excitement and sense of wonder on her face at the splash pad, with a water hose, and with a little pool. The key is just to get your kids outside and let them explore how water works! You don't need anything fancy to let them learn and have fun.

Quick Tip: Sticky Ingredients

Measuring Sticky Ingredients

When you have to measure sticky and hard-to-pour ingredients-- like honey, nut butters, and condiments, do one of two things to save yourself the hassle of scraping out the measuring cup.

1. Spray the cup with nonstick cooking spray, or
2. Use the measuring cup for your oil measurement beforehand. Then, without rinsing out the cup, measure your sticky ingredient. Many recipes have you add the two ingredients to the same bowl to whisk together, but more often than not, the oil is listed after the sticky one in the recipe, which means you're stuck scraping out the cup.

It's simple and effective. Will life be drastically different if you don't do it? No. But it's just one less hassle. Honestly, I was skeptical about the difference it'd make when I first heard this tip, but now I always think about it when cooking.

Incredibly rich vanilla bean frozen custard

This venture started out with me wanting to make a good, rich vanilla ice cream with my little Cuisinart ice cream maker. I thought that a caramel topping would be nice. I had no idea what I was getting myself into.

What it turned out to be is a vanilla frozen custard so rich and creamy that really only a couple of small scoops are plenty for any ice cream, sugar-loving, dessert nut {like me}. Personally, I felt like it tasted like the ice cream version of the custard part of crème brûlée.

The topping is a deeply darkened caramel (read: sugar one step away from burning). It's not the super sweet light caramel that barely has any flavor. That has its own place in life... but not here. This caramel tastes much like the burnt "brulee" part of the créme brûlée.

This dessert is not for you if you're looking to trim away any inches on your waist. This is the real deal, folks.

Super Rich & Creamy Vanilla Frozen Custard

Adapted from Gourmet

Yields 3/4 quart, but doubling the recipe will likely be too dense for a typical 1 1/2 quart Cuisinart machine to handle

Ingredients

1 good quality vanilla bean (I used Penzeys) or vanilla bean paste

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

1/2 cup whole milk

3/4 cup sugar

2 eggs

Using a sharp paring knife, halve the vanilla bean lengthwise. Gently scrape out all of the caviar; place into a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan the caviar, empty vanilla bean, cream, and sugar. Bring mixture to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat.

Using a mixer, slightly whisk the eggs. While the mixer is on medium low with the whisk attachment, slowly pour spoonfuls of the cream mixture into the eggs until the eggs are tempered (i.e. adjusting to the heat without becoming scrambled eggs), about 4 or so spoonfuls. Then, you can slowly pour in the rest of the cream mixture into the eggs while the mixer is still on. 

Pour the mixture back into the saucepan, and cook stirring constantly over medium-low until the custard reaches 170-175 degrees (do not let it boil). Pour the custard through a fine mesh strainer into a bowl. 

If you have time, let it come to room temp (or close) and then refrigerate until completely cold, about 3 hours or up 24 hours. Press a layer of plastic wrap or wax paper flush to the top of the custard so that a skin doesn't form. 

If you're short on time, place the bowl of custard inside a larger bowl filled with ice. Stir the custard constantly until it is cool, and then place in the fridge with plastic wrap or wax paper flush to the top of the custard so a film doesn't form. Refrigerate for up to 24 hours.

Follow your ice cream maker's instructions to finish and store for up to 1 week in an airtight container in the freezer.

The dark salted caramel topping is from Smitten Kitchen and made exactly as Deb perfectly described with the exception that I made a half a batch. 

Touring John's Office (2)

Almost every time we have a visitor, our clan makes a trip to John's office to tour give an office tour. The campus is expanding so quickly that we can never do a whole tour in one day; our interest wanes about an hour into the tour.

When our friends Ashley and Dustin came up for LE's baptism, I posted some photos of our walk around the office with them.

Steve, a family friend from Louisiana, came up for my 10,000 day surprise. It was his first time up to Wisconsin, and I think we have a convert! :) He was impressed by our city's infrastructure, the farms, the weather, the lakes, and the activities. All in one day, we strolled around the capitol building for the Art Fair on the Square; shopped the farmer's market; ate at my favorite lunch locale, Graze; and toured John's office.

1.) View of the cafeteria from standing outside of a conference room;  2.) Walking around the perimeter of the pond with the cafeteria on the left and the aforementioned conference room on the right;   3.) Art in the brush around the perimeter of the pond;  4.) Part of the cafeteria eating area from the upper level, looking out towards the same pond.

Mural in "Grand Central Station," next to the cafeteria where there's the General Store (snacks, toiletries, magazines, drinks) and the NY Sock Exchange (dry cleaning drop-off/pick up).

Some of the NYC themed building. I think that's my favorite one.

Treehouse conference room outside. You have to cross the slatted bridge to enter.