My obsession with Icecycles

When I was a little kid and my parents got divorced, my Mom, brother and I moved to Oregon to live with my grandparents. My uncle Johnny drove us up and it was the first time I had driven to Oregon in January. I remember opening the car door and thinking "I am SO not dressed for this!" I was wearing shorts and a t shirt, having come from San Diego to Central Oregon. There was 4 feet of snow on the ground!

But the drive there around Diamond Lake was one of the most beautiful memories I have and I remember the ice cycles most vividly. They were along the ridge above the car on the windiest of roads and gorgeous and glisteny! I have always had a fascination since then about them.

Having come from SD I was not used to seeing snow, it was still this mystical amazing thing that happens in "Oregon". I was always sort of jealous of my cousins who lived in Oregon for having the family and the snow all to themselves.

So these last trips, knowing they would be our last, to Gram's I have been taking many ice cycle pics out the window of the car. Many were blurry, but a few turned out lovely. Here they are.


Gorgeous snow covered trees!

Ice on the trees.

The ice cycles hanging from the ceiling of the tunnel!

Crescent Lake Resort and the giagantic ice cycles- my favorite!

When I was living at Gram's house, we used to get these HUGE ice cycles that would hang off the roof. They were about as big around as my 12 year old waist (tiny- at the time I admit!). I loved to look at them and watch them drip and get longer as they would again refreeze. This time around they had already been knocked down to prevent any one from getting hurt by them falling off.

Baby Wearing 101

First, you ask your mommy to make you a "back pack" for your baby. She ties one on you

(more of sling and really just a yard of fabric tied in a knot)

Then you ask your mommy to put baby IN, and you go for a drive* in your little red coupe. :)

Grayson loves to wear his baby, which is no wonder since I still wear him in a back pack. Especially when he is crabby.

I guess it makes him happy to wear his baby just like I love to wear mine.

*Do NOT try this at home with your OWN REAL child, children should be properly restrained in a safety seat. Sad that I have to put that...

Grayson's 2nd Birthday!

Grayson's birthday this year was much less chaos and many less people. Given our financial situation we decided to keep it very small. So we only had two little friends and their chaperone's.

Grayson chose Elmo for his birthday party plates when we were shopping at Toys R Us, and I have always been against characters and children being walking advertisements but I have been heard said that once they can choose them on their own I will relent (not clothes! those make me crazy) So Elmo went in his hot little hands. :)

Geneva made this great Mama's Helper apron for Grayson. He loves it and wears it all the time.


The boys: Grayson, Jeremiah and Jimmy playing with the food Jeremiah and Di just gave him.

The balloons up on on the 18 foot ceiling.

Grayson and Jeremiah "playing"

The cupcakes and G's personal cake.

HAPPY BIRRRTHDAY TO YOU, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO GRAYSON, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOOOUUUU! BLOW!

CHEESE!

Yet another reason NOT to send your hubby to the store!

Demarle at home party Fundraiser!

My great friend Darla is hosting a fundraiser for my family. We are still unemployed and just trying to make ends meet. I hate that we have to ask for help and I hate that my pride is taking a hit during this challenge but I know it will get better and hopefully soon. In the mean time, I have great friends who always come through for me. If you are out of state, I can ship. Get those orders in! (jsbuquet@gmail.com) Here are the details.

Buquet Family Fundraiser!



Solutions for EVERYONE in the kitchen…

This is an opportunity to get revolutionary kitchen products that will make cooking fun and easy and at the same time support our
family in a time of need.
Purchase for yourself and/or do some Gift shopping.



Here is how it works:



· You can attend the party on the 29th at 6:30pm to see the product being
demonstrated or ask Jaimey for a catalog to place your order without
attending the party.

· There will be a raffle for prizes held at the party on the 29th.

· We will collect orders until January 31st. This is a great opportunity
to show it to everyone you will be seeing over the next 2 weeks.

· You can share the catalog and exciting news about the benefits of cooking
with Demarle with friends and family that you see every day.

· Collect orders (paid with VISA, MasterCard or Check Payable to Darla Truitt).

The Buquet Family will receive Cash Rewards!

Up to 40% of all sales!

Turn your orders in to Jaimey Buquet by January 31st!

Couldn’t be easier! Who do YOU know who wants solutions in their kitchen?
Who is on your Gift Shopping List?
Please let me know if you have any questions and we look forward to seeing you on the 29th.

Jaimey Buquet 503-809-9922

4370 SE Rosewood St., Hillsboro, OR 97123

To see the Catalog go to www.demarleathome.com

Bye Bye Christmas Tree

I know its been forever since this happened (two and half weeks or so) but I just wanted to share these photos.

Grayson is having a hard time getting over the fact that we have little to no snow left. Everyday he wakes up (still) asking for the BOW
And everyday we say the BOW is all gone.
At this point he knew that there was this little patch right outside. So while Zack cut up the Christmas tree, Grayson stabbed at the BOW.

Notice the GIANT mommy slippers on my sons feet. And if you look close you will see the FDNY hat of Zack's on his head. He got him self dressed, I swear!

a mind of his own

Grayson has decided he is his own person and when he wants what he wants,
he should get what he wants...
we are in negotiations.
This is him deciding he wants Daddies phone and if he has to climb on the table to get it so be it. (Dad quit laughing!)

Adventures in Cake Decorating part 1

Many of you know I am crafty, and I am a bit neurotic about my crafts. I love them. Lots of them. I am always trying a new one and while it may not stay around long or permanently there will always be SOME craft in my life.

I have always wanted to learn how to decorate cakes. I tried once, WAY back in 1999 or so, and it was so ugly that I actually wrote on it "The Ugly Cake" and the boyfriend at the time and I never even cut into it. It sat in the fridge for a week until I finally got tired of looking it in all its pathetic-ness and threw it away. It was that ugly.

I never tried again. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't out of fear or anything. I guess it just never really came up again. I don't really like cake. Its a dirty little secret of mine. I prefer cookies. And those I can decorate! I love to decorate them in fact. But not that I have a toddler who will have more birthdays I figured now was the time to revisit cake decorating and take the class.

It is a Wilton class at Joann's Fabrics and a lot of fun so far. Last weeks first class we basically sat and watched our instructor demo some techniques.

This week, we had to bring a cake. We had our choice of an 8 inch round cake that would end up with a rainbow on it (dumb) or a character cake from Wilton of coarse. I chose neither. I know I know. That's what my husband said but I refuse to buy more pans that take up space when Demarle is so lovely and FOLDS! So I used this Imagine mold from Demarle. The 2008 catalog had some photos of things you could do with the mold so I chose the frog.

So I set about, and made my cake on Thursday evening because I had to work Friday and Grayson's mini party was on Saturday. (Mini because it was only two of his little friends) Then this morning I leveled and put the base layer of frosting on my frog. I only had one color of green which I didn't really like so I went to class early and picked up a darker green and mixed up my frosting colors before class.

Class was spent learning different ways to decorate like the star and some writing techniques as well as the textures of our frosting. By the end we had partially decorated the cake for this class. I had most of my green "stars" piped onto my froggies body.


I had wondered right up until I got home how I would decorate its face and such but had always heard about Fondant. Someone brought it up again in class and it piqued my interest once again. So I came home and looked up recipes online to see if it is even something I could do. Turns out there is this fabulous recipe using Marshmallows, water, powdered sugar and Crisco.

I pulled all of these things out of my pantry and started making this recipe. In it Peggy mentions you really have to grease your hands to knead this "dough". I did. I really thought I was properly greased.

I wasn't.

I stuck my hands in and started mooshing. That is about the time I figured out I have a sensory issue with gooey textures being in between my fingers. I started feeling claustrophobic and dizzy all the while determined to make this damn fondant. So I kept kneading, and feeling a little ill. I SO wish I had been able to sprout that third arm to take the photo of my hands but since they were buisy and hubby was snoring quietly on the couch there was noone to take a photo. But sufice it to say, I had NOT greased enough.

Lesson learned. I had most of the mixture stuck to me.

Then BRILLIANT me. I get the idea that there HAD TO BE A BETTER WAY. Famous last words right? So I get all cleaned up (I swear that took 15 minutes to get all the crud off my hands) and I load all my ingredients into my stand mixer. My good ol' friend who is over worked and underpaid. And for this abuse, she spit on me.

Back to the good ol Roulpat. This was getting ridiculous. right as I start to get frustrated and almost about to give up, I decide to try again. And there you have it. Isn't it gorgeous?

Then I colored it.

Then I rolled it out and cut out various shapes for its arms, legs, eyes and mouth. All went pretty well. (If you try this make sure you use gloves for the coloring portion, otherwise your hands will be lovely colors for weeks!) I made two sets because supposedly you aren't supposed to put fondant in the fridge on the cake but I have a milk based pudding filling in my cake so it has to go in the fridge. If the fondant goes haywire I will have backup.

And finally all the parts are on and cute! Voila! Here is my first cake.
I must say I am very proud of this accomplishment. I feel like I conquered something I have had on my to do list for many years. I feel even more accomplished that the fondant worked out, its not even taught in this class! They have a whole class set devoted to it.

And the best part is its not even UGLY. Not even a little bit.

Jonathan Mitchell Buquet

Jonathan Mitchell Buquet
Born to our loving arms Oct 9, 2008
where he spent his short 3 hour life.

A life is not measured in time, or in deeds of importance,
but by how many people love you - and in that case, Jonathan will have had a very full life -full of love


Thank you to

Names in the sand
for the generous gift they give to parents like me who have lost our children.
Nothing heals our hearts, or brings back our children but somehow seeing Jonathan's name in the sand is very healing. I feel at peace.

Happy Birthday Grayson!

Happy Birthday to our precious Little Boy!


You are our sunshine and our pride and joy.
Your daddy and I are so proud of you and all you are becoming.
Everyday is a new adventure that we can't wait to experience with you.

Happy 2nd Birthday to Grayson!
born January 13, 2007
9 days late- 77 hours in labor
Rude!
at 5:44 am
via C section

He may never live that down...

Jonathan's slide shows

Here are both the slide shows: (click on the white words)

belly slide show

Jonathan's birth slide show

The Jonathan slide show is similar but not the same as the one longer one we showed at the memorial.

Cook for a Day!

Its a really good thing I like my kitchen, cause I sure spend a lot of time there!

18 more meals in my freezer! :) Yeah! I spent all of yesterday cooking and prepping for more meals to go in my freezer. I was asked for my recipes and so here they are! I will also try to tell you how I put them all together since many were modified for the freezer etc.

Jaimey's Chili
modified from the Aaron's Favorite Chili
From this book

this is a double-ish recipe from the original. Serves 28-30

3 lbs mixed ground meats- I used 1lb each of grnd beef, turkey and italian sausage
2 green peppers- chopped
2 onions- chopped
4 (16 oz) cans corn- drained
4 (32 oz) cans crushed tomatoes- I used some italian some plain. What I had on hand.
8 (16 oz) cans kidney beans drained- I used 4 chili beans
(in chili sauce not drained) and 4 kidney beans
4 T chili powder
4 T ground cumin

In a large stock pot (used my canning pot) cook meats , onions and peppers all together. Add all other ingredients. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer for as long as you want or at least one hour. I did mine for about 3-4 hours. I like all my ingredients well flavored.

We ate this last night for dinner and then froze the rest. To Freeze, let cool. Ladle in to freezer-safe bags or containers and freeze. I use quart ziplocks, squeeze all the air out then put that and a 3 x 5 recipe/ direction card of how to reheat in a Food Saver Bag. Suck out all the air and freeze flat so it stacks well. Makes 5 quart size bags and day of meal. So 6 meals of 4.

Heat and Eat Instructions: Thaw overnight in frig. Pour into a saucepan; heat over medium heat until hot and bubbly.

Chicken Enchiladas
this is about the tastiest white sauce I have ever had! Extras are great on a quesadilla too!
From this book
this is doubled from the original

2 onions- chopped
1 cup green pepper- I used red cause I had it
4 T butter or marg
4 cups cooked chicken or turkey - I used turkey cause I had extra frozen from the last time
8 oz canned green chili peppers, chopped and drained
6 T butter or marg
1/2 cup flour
2 t ground coriander
1 1/2 t. salt
5 cups chicken broth
2 cups sour cream
3 cups Monterrey Jack cheese, shredded
24 6 inch tortillas- I used the taco size flour ended up being about 17 enchiladas or 3 pans of 5 and two extra for a friend.

Cooking day instructions:
1. Cook onion and green pepper in 4T butter until tender. Combine onion mixture in a bowl with chicken and chili peppers; set aside.
2. For sauce, melt 6 T butter in a large sauce pan. Stir in flour, coriander and salt. Stir in chicken broth all at once; cook and stir until thicken and bubbly. Cook and stir 1-2 minutes more. Remove from heat; stir in sour cream and 1 cup of cheese. Stir 1 cup of sauce into chicken mixture.
3. Dip each tortilla into remaining sauce to soften. (I tried this with corn tortillas but they just broke all to crap no matter what I did so I scrapped that and used the flour and didn't dip- might have been cause I froze them previously) Fill each with about 1/4-1/2 cup of mixture. Roll up. Arrange rolls in a lined baking dish for freezing.
4. Pour remaining mixture sauce over enchiladas and sprinkle with remaining cheese. Freeze.

I used one of those tin disposable pans sprayed with canola. Then I put that in a gallon Zip lock and once frozen into a food saver with the recipe/ direction card.

Heat and Eat Instructions: Thaw completely. Bake uncovered at 350 for 25 minutes or until bubbly.


Creamy Basil Pork Chops
From this book, doubled

In two, 1 quart bags place:
2 T olive oil
4 pork chops
4 t. minced garlic

In two sandwich bags place:
1 T. olive oil
2 T chopped Basil (I used dried- I never use fresh, goes bad too fast)
1/4 t. salt
1/4 t. pepper

In two sandwich bags place:
1/3 cup heavy cream

Place one of all three bags in two 1 gallon bags and a recipe card. (so in each gallon bag: a bag of pork, a bag of spices and a bag of cream) I put those small bags in a food saver bag for freezing.
Freeze at flat as possible.

Cooking Day Directions:
1. Thaw completely. In a large skillet, heat pork, garlic and oil. Saute for 6-8 minutes per side,
until brown on both sides.
2. Meanwhile, mix the bag of oil and spices.
3. add to skillet a few minutes before pork is done. Be sure to coat pork evenly.
4. When pork is cooked through, remove from pan and keep warm
5. Whisk the cream into the pan drippings for 2-3 minutes over medium heat, until the sauce thickens slightly. Pour the sauce over the cooked pork and serve immediately.

*Disclaimer- have not tried this recipe yet. You could use chicken too.

Honey- Cinnamon Pork Chops with Carrots
From this book- doubled

In two, 1 gallon bags place:
1 bag (16 oz) frozen slices carrots
4 boneless pork chops, rinsed and patter dry
salt and pepper (I did about a 1/2 t. each)
1 can condensed tomato soup
1 T. cinnamon
1/3 cup honey

In a sandwich bag place:
2 T. shelled pistachios, chopped
1/4 cup raisins
For Garnish.

Cooking Day instructions:
moosh all ingredients in large bag then place in a 5 qrt crock pot. cook on low for 4-5 hours.
when done place raisins and pistachios on top for garnish.

Pecan "Stuffing" Chicken Breasts
From this book also- doubled

8 T. butter (could use a little less)
2 celery stalks- chopped
2 small onions- minced
2 1/2 t. salt- divided
4 cups crumbled toast (8 slices)
2 cups pecans- chopped
2 t. parley flakes
1/2 cup water
8 chicken breasts

Prep directions:
In a large skillet, melt butter and cook celery, onion, 1/2 of the salt and pepper until tender. stir in crumbled toast, chopped pecans, parsley flakes and 1/2 cup water. let cool.

In two, 1 gallon bags place:
cooled stuffing mixture
4 chicken breasts
other half salt and pepper

place those gallon bags in another gallon bag or food saver bag with recipe/direction card. freeze as flat as possible.

Cooking Day Instructions:
Thaw completely. Place all ingredients in the bag into a foil lined baking dish (or Demarle mold like this that I did) and bake 400 degrees for 20 minutes covered, 20 minutes uncovered or until chicken is cooked and tender. Stir as necessary.

Carmelized Pork Slices (I did Chops)
From this book- doubled

In two, quart bags place:
4 pork chops
2 t. minced garlic

In two, sandwich bags place:
2 T. packed brown sugar
1 T orange juice
1 T molasses
1/2 t. salt
1/4 t. pepper

Place both in a freezer or food saver bag with recipe/direction card. Freeze as flat as possible.

Cooking Day Instructions:
Thaw completely. Cook pork and garlic in skillet 6-8 minutes each side for chops, or total if doing slices turning occasionally, until pork is slightly pink in center.
Drain if necessary. Stir in remaining ingredients. Cook until mixture thickens and coats pork.

Cranberry Chicken
From this book again- doubled

In two, 1 gallon bags place:
8 oz Catalina dressing
1 pkg dry onion soup mix
1 lb can whole- berry cranberry sauce (I used homemade cause I had cranberries to use up)
4 chicken breasts

squish to mix together.
place those bags in a second freezer bag or food saver bag. Freeze as flat as possible.

Serving Day Instructions:
Thaw completely. Place chicken with sauce in greased baking dish, and bake uncovered at 350 for 1-1 1/2 hours.

Helpful Hints:
1. make sure you sqeeze out as much air as possible out of all bags. they freeze better and keep longer and save space that way
2. If you don't have a food saver, its fine, use a second freezerbag. If you plan to make meals to freeze long term or a lot of meals I highly reccomend the Food Saver. I have never had a problem with freezer burn with those bags but I have with double ziplocks.
3. Once you do a day of cooking or however many you do. Its easy to maintain. If you make a meal from scratch (or fake scratch) just make a double or triple batch and freeze the uneaten portions. You will always have a freezer stock this way.
4. Always freeze your meals flat so they take up less space and are easy to get back out. I just tossed one in when I ran out of time and it was wedged in between some stuff, it took forever to get it out of there.

Good luck! Most recipes can be accomodated to freezing. Enjoy!

Help! Save small businesses from CPSIA

One of my favorite little boutiques (the one who originally had my Lovey Doodle Diapers) may be closing soon! With the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, designed to protect our children from unsafe levels of lead in toys it is also written so poorly that many many small businesses will be forces to close their doors after February 10 2009. I am one of them. If this Act does not get changed from its current wording, I will be forced to never make a diaper again for sale. These laws are very strict in the lead testing for everything potentially for a child, which is good but to the extreme that they want these things tested is idiotic.

The companies that are left standing are left with so much higher costs that they will have to raise their rates drastically.

We can let our voices be heard. And heard and heard and heard! Take a moment to visit this link:
http://capwiz.com/americanapparel/issues/alert/?alertid=12274476 simply enter your name and address, and a prewritten letter will be emailed to your members of Congress letting them know that changes need to be made so that we can keep America's children safe without destroying American businesses.

NBD stands for National Bankruptcy Day - a name given to February 10th, 2009 because of the number of companies expected to go under. Don't let us disappear silently.

For more info please check out StyledBabyDesigns blog or google CPSIA (you get all kinds of fun things with that like all the people just like me who have to have fire sales for CPSIA). thank you for helping!

Here are some other links I found helpful:
Glory quilts Xanga site
Info about CPSIA

Jonathan's Due date

Today was my due date with Jonathan Mitchell Buquet. I have no words to describe the sadness in my heart when I think of the loss so immeasurable. I never thought it would be me.

My baby died and he is gone and my heart is still broken.

I love you little boy, for the rest of my life and for all that I do it will be in your memory and for your brother (and hopefully more someday) still living. I know that you are prefect and though your time with us was short, we are forever changed by your love and beauty.

Thank you for letting me be your mommy.

Terrific Twos!

They say its the Terrible 2's but I have never agreed. Its three's I have always thought were horrible. More on that another time. I have always loved the 2's because they are so excited to learn and discover new things. Everything is funny and even when they are naughty its usually in a "learning something new and trying to figure it all out sort of way" rather than just being naughty (like 3's!)

Which brings me to tonight. Grayson turns 2 next Tuesday. In the last week he is all of a sudden full of new words and doing all kinds of exciting new things. We talk a lot over his head and we keep reminding each other that we need to be more careful. Tonight Zack took G to Lowes to get somethings for the gift he is making G and he let G do the ringing up at the self serve check out counter. When they finished Zack told G he did a good job and he was the Boss. G looks at him and says "No. Mama boss, Dada boss". This was totally out of the blue. This is something we say sometimes, we usually ask G who is the boss is and he sometimes participates. (I am by the way- as if there was ever any question) He has also started climbing like crazy.

Tonight we learned that our little boy is almost cut down the middle equally sweet and naughty. He went and got a cloth napkin out of the drawer and was wiping up some milk that splashed out of his sippy cup on the dining room table while we were eating (us, not him, he refused his dinner- another new thing...) Then while we were commenting on what a good job he was doing cleaning up he flicked the straw on his cup so it spilled again... making another mess to sweetly clean up! He would wipe it up and immediately look up for approval.



Then when I took away his napkin to try and prevent this super fun game he climbed on the table to get it back. Before I knew it he was kneeling in the middle of my dining room table. I asked him where his tushie belonged- I thought implying that his butt belonged on the chair! But apparently he takes hints like his father cause he said "table" and sat down.

Now I know somewhere in San Diego my father is giving a high five to Sharon and saying pay back is a bitch and to that I reply, I was perfect and there is no one (if they know what is good for them) who will say otherwise... except you. And you can be replaced! :)