On Saturday my sister, Kateka, invited us to go ice skating with her company.
JJ and I spent most of the time hunched over Gentry trying to keep him standing and from smacking his head on the ice. Gentry loved it even though he could not really do it at all. JJ hunched over him and to keep Gentry’s feet on the ground. JJ’s back hurt the next day. I say, that is what you get when you get close to working out.
I just picked him up and moved slowly around the rink and tickled his tummy if I could get to it.
Gentry really likes Stuart, Kateka’s husband. He kept wanting to go and talk to him and play. Other people are so much more fun that JJ and I. Probably because we threaten to take away all his toys and make him have time outs.
On the potty training front. We have been taking turns waking up and taking Gentry to the bathroom. He usually only has one small accident a night. Which seems like a lot. But we are going from filling up diapers to just tiny accidents. We still have not had an accident free night, but I think we are getting there.
I hope. I hope. I hope.
Also, my crocus’ are poking their little blossoms out of the icy ground and not even dieing when they get snowed on. I could just kiss them and the warm thoughts of summer they bring.
I am still frantically preparing for Christmas. What they heck was I thinking making so many presents? I hate giving things I put no heart into, but my heart is no longer feeling it, I am completely out of steam and yet I head back into the mess to continue upward and onward. Hopefully.
The presents are really cute in my head, but I am a clumsy seamstress and it shows. I am trying though. Seriously trying.
Mr. Dino has made it into a lot of photos lately. The last photo he was not “eating” Baby Jesus. I was informed that this is just Jesus’ new mode of transportation. Like Dino Taxi, with out the joy of being screamed at in the middle of a busy street in New York in the rain about getting OUT of my taxi. Taxi drivers in Denver are a lot nicer, doling out advice about having more children and spreading the love.
This year we have been doing an Advent Calendar. We read of slip of paper with an activity on it and Gentry gets a small candy. The activities vary, but on Wednesday we went to Temple Square, in downtown Salt Lake to look at the Christmas lights. I have not been to see this in several years, but I really thought the nativity scene set in the reflecting pool was so pretty.
As we were leaving we asked Gentry if he liked going to see the lights. He said that he didn’t like the lights, but that he did like looking at the big statue of Cheesus. He is referring to the large statue they have of Jesus in one of the visitor centers. He cracks us up.
Here is a recipe I get asked about quite a bit. It is for caramels that I make once and year and usually share with others at Christmas time. They take three hours to make that that is not including cooling, cutting and wrapping. So you really have to be serious about this. Also, this is a Martha Stewart recipe, she never does things the easy way.
If you received some of these last year I substituted light corn syrup for some kind of brown rice syrup, it is an earthy product and made them much less sweet, but a lot more rich. I think I was going to try half corn syrup this year and half rice syrup. Also, heavy cream is not terribly expensive at Costco and I think you have a little left over to drink. You know JJ is standing here with his face on the spout of the cream waiting for me to get finished.
Golden Caramels 4 cup heavy cream 1 cup sweetened condensed milk 4 cup light corn syrup 4 cup sugar 1 teaspoon salt 1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 16 peices 1 Tablespoon + 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1- Spray a cookie sheet with cooking spry. In a 2-quart saucepan, combine cream and sweetened condensed milk; set aside. 2- In a large saucepan (really large), combine corn syrup, 1 cup of water, sugar and salt. Clip on a candy thermometer. Over high heat, cook until sugar is dissolved, stirring with a wooden spoon, 8-12 minutes. Brush down sides of pan with a pastry brush dipped in water to remove sugar crystals 3- Stop stirring, reduce heat to medium, and bring to a boil. Cook without stirring until temperature reaches 250 degrees (45-60 minutes). Meanwhile, cook cream mixture over low heat until it is just warm. Do not boil. When sugar reaches 250 degrees, slowly stir in butter and warmed cream mixture, keeping mixture boiling at all times. Stirring constantly, cook over medium heat until thermometer reaches 244 degrees, 55-75 minutes. Stir in vanilla. Immediately pour into prepared pan without scraping pot. Let stand uncovered at room temperature for 24 hours without moving. 4- To cut, spray large cutting board with vegetable oil. Unmold caramels and cut. Wrap in cellophane or waxed paper.
Yum. If you want me to send you a few of these I totally will. Comment and leave your address and I will send you a couple. You will think you have died. If you live by me and are my friend in real life, not fake internet life, you will probably get some anyway. If you are my friend in internet standard time, comment and I will send you some.
I forgot to talk about the star on the top of my tree. When jj and I were first newly weds and had nothing but a Christmas tree and lots of hot, hot love, I made the star out of desperation. I needed something to top the tree, but was fairly unwilling to spend the money for a once a year tree topper decoration.
This lovely is made of a toilet paper roll, construction paper and tin foil. I was a little embarrassed by the ragged rawness of it then. Now however, we have the money and I could get a new fangled glowing with the reverence of the world tree topper, but I am a little fond of this one. I find myself repairing it every year. It reminds me of our first Christmas together, and the tree I knocked over on myself twice while trying to water it. But mostly of our humble beginnings together, when less still made us happy and we were glad to have each other.
This is my tree. I love Christmas and decorating. I wish things had been a little less hectic this year, hopefully I will learn to relax next year. There is a resolution.
We had a lovely Christmas. The 23rd we had a progressive dinner with my family. We drove around to each of my siblings homes and had a course of dinner. It was fun to see how everyone had decorated. Later that evening we went back to my mom’s house and opened our Christmas gifts for each other. She spoils us, especially Gentry. He got a blinking Spiderman hoodie that he will not take off.
The next morning we went to my cousins Megan’s house for her annual Christmas Eve Birthday Brunch. I remember when she was born 17 Christmas Eve’s ago. I remember thinking that because her mom was in the hospital her sisters would get to have Christmas at my house. I was ecstatic. Unfortunately some moms are super moms and theirs came home and pulled Christmas together, really an amazing feat. I remember her though, a day old and lying on the couch as we all screamed through her house with new Christmas goodies.
After the brunch we headed to Logan where we spent the rest of the week. We came home this morning. It was a lovely holiday with jj’s family. They spoil us. We got lots of nice gifts and ate lots of tasty food, all day everyday. My starvation diet is not working at all. Dang it. It is hard to starve when chocolate and sweet potatoes are calling. They also let jj and I take naps, that is a treat I get so rarely these days. I love a warm nap, or just reading a book. It is nice to have just a few minutes to myself.
