Mayor of Randomtown

I think it's time for another blog post. Do you ever go to a favorite blog and think, "Aw, man, she hasn't posted anything new yet?" I do that sometimes with this blog, and then I remember--you know--that it's mine. You know what's coming next. Bullets!

• Was your Christmas exhausting? Our was one big ball of presents and cooking. With ham. And carrots. And pie. And rolls. Mmmmm…..Wait. Where was I?
  

• Thank you again for all your maternity picture suggestions. They completely came in handy. The husband even teased me that he thought I'd make his wife strip down--and I totally thought of you guys!

Yeah, she's pregnant. And teeny-tiny. I might have to kill her.

• I got to photograph a little lady who played baby Aaron on LOST. Did you know they have more than one baby playing Aaron on LOST? Next thing you'll tell me is that Sawyer isn't a real person. Why would you hurt me like that?

• Isn't this little girl so cute too? I could have eaten her legs for lunch. See, now I'm thinking about Christmas food again. This has to stop.

• So now it's New Years resolution time. What are yours? Do you ever stick to them until the end of the year? Give me pointers, people.

• Hee, hee. People--this is just a ROBE. Say it with me. R.O.B.E. Also, you kind of look like a cult member.

Okay, that's it for now. Harmony... out.

Lemon Custard Cake

Subtitled: Brandi Don't Read This.

Made this cake for Christmas. It was such a nice, light dessert! And hello? Any recipe that calls for instant lemon pudding is okay with me.

Lemon Custard Cake

8 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
2 Tablespoons ice water
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 teaspoon lemon extract

Combine all above ingredients in a large bowl. With an electric mixer on the whisk attachment, start beating the egg yolk mixture on low speed. Gradually continue whisking while increasing the speed slowly. Beat until very thick.

Sift in:
1 1/4 cup sifted cake flour

In a separate large bowl, combine the following ingredients:
8 egg whites
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon salt

With an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, start beating the egg white mixture on low speed. Gradually continue whisking while increasing the speed slowly.

Slowly add:
1 cup sugar

Beat until the mixture resembles stiff glossy peaks. Gently fold the egg white mixture into the flour/egg yolk mixture. Be gentle with the batter (do not overmix!) Pour the batter into an ungreased angel food pan. With a knife, carefully cut into the batter to remove air pockets (I even give it a few sharp raps on a folded towel on the counter to release any big air pockets)

Bake at 325 degrees for 60 minutes.

Remove cake from oven and invert immediately. Let cool for at least 2 hours while inverted. Once completely cool, remove the cake by gently cutting around the sides of the pan. Cut into 3 equal layers (I just did two, because I was a little stressed out) Spread with chilled lemon custard filling (recipe below) in between each layer. Dust with sifted powdered sugar before serving (which I didn't do--see stress excuse) Garnish with fresh raspberries and serve immediately.

Custard Filling
1/2 pint heavy whipping cream
1 small box (3.4 ounce) instant lemon pudding mix
1 cup cold milk

Combine pudding mix with the cold milk. Follow box instructions for instant pudding. Let sit 5 minutes. Meanwhile, beat whipping cream until thick cream. Gently fold into pudding and chill.

Enjoy!

Merry Christmas!

Hope your day was magic.

Paper Ornaments

The kids and I made these paper ornaments today. I wish I would have done them earlier, but it was a perfect kids craft project. Colin was allowed to use the stapler, which is usually forbidden. I was allowed to use my paper cutter, which I might declare to be my third child.

Tutorial found here.

Four-eyes

Look how I found him napping today. I'm still laughing.

Do you have this game? My kids love it. Duh.

Totally biased....

...but I think his hair looks awesome.

Colin, you are my blond surfer boy.

Flock of Seagulls, anyone?

Flashback right here.

And the winner is....

Woohoo, it's Brandi! I might have totally saw that one coming--hello Brandi comments! Send me a comment with your email address (I promise I won't publish it)and I'll get your address.

Thank you for all the picture links. My maternity shoot is next Saturday--I'll show you the results (unless they end up being naked results--then you probably won't see those) (well, I'll just send them to Jen and Monique. They love the naked!)

Side note: How awesome is my painting on the Random.org picture? Would you believe that was my fourth attempt? Arrows are hard, people!

December?

December? Nah, it still seems to be Halloween at our house.

Batman forever, baby!

2 Questions

Question #1: If you are stress eating, is it better to do it next to a small-ish, very cute girl? Does that burn additional calories?

Question #2: Do Kate's eyelashes, curls and flawless skin come in adult sizes?

It's still Monday here...oh wait, I already used that line.

Internet peeps, it's contest number two!

I won't be requiring any more pee stories from you (but by all means, if you have them--send them my way)

Instead I need you to do my dirty work. I have a maternity session coming up soon and I need you to find your favorite maternity picture. It can be from anywhere--just make sure it's awesome. Post the link to the picture in your comment and you'll be entered. Enter as many times as you'd like. I'll be using Random.org to pick the winner!

The winner gets a HUGE package of these. Ah, Christmas in Hawaii! Contest ends Friday.

Good luck!

*pssst, the more you enter, the more likely you are to win. Consider this a free tip. Now go find me awesome belly pictures.

Winner!

*because you know how I like to have blog pictures.

Friendternets, thank you for making me laugh. These contest entries were hilarious!

Our winner is.......

SARAH!

Because, seriously anyone who will tell a pee story to the Internet just deserves a tutu. It's that easy. Sarah, email me and we'll figure out the size for your prize (oooh, that's catchy!)

Everyone else, another contest starts tomorrow!

It's still Monday here...

You guys, I'm a loser. I said I'd get the giveaway up and I almost missed yet. But it's still Monday in Hawaii. Let's blame the delay on the barfing children I'm holed up with. Deal?

The first giveaway is going to be (and you never saw it coming)

A TUTU!!!

Just for my loyal readers (or not so loyal) You get your own personalized tutu made by yours truly. In pink. Because that is the color of the tulle I have right now.

All you have to is write something that will make me laugh. Jokes, memories, embarrassing stories. Bring. On. The. Funny.

Enter as many times as you want ("that's what she said!")--a inkling into my sense of humor! I'll pick the winner on Friday! Make me laugh people!

Sunday, random Sunday

• Thank you for the giveaway suggestions--I'll start putting them (yes, multiple!) on Monday. Stay tuned!


• Blake is home! I can stop sleeping with kitchen knives next to me.


• A few of our family pictures came in! Our photographer was awesome--my kids loved her. If you're ever in Hawaii and need a photographer.....WAIT A MINUTE! If you're ever in Hawaii, you'd better damn well come to me! Jerk.







*Photo credit: Natalie Norton Photography



• Are you kidding me that Thanksgiving is this Thursday? Where did November go? Does this mean I have to start Christmas shopping?


• Dear Person Who Decided To Cancel Pushing Daises: Consider us fighting.

Contest Time!

I'm ready to do a contest giveaway on my blog this coming week. But FIRST--I'm going to be lazy and have you readers come up with suggestions of something to give away. Oh!! and how to go about judging the winner (personally, I'm thinking of judging based on their shoes)

Ideas, ideas, ideas? Bring them on!

{insert witty title here}

Have you had one of those weeks?

Where your husband is gone the whole week? Where you imagine that at about 8pm every night everyone but you is having sex?

Where you spend two hours every day in traffic?

Where your kids are bouncing off the walls? It made me tired just watching them. The whole time I just wanted to say, "Okay you know what? You're at a 12. I need you at a 7 or 8. It is just a Thursday night."

Where you go to the doctor and hear key phrases you don't want to?

Where you just organized your whole playroom, went to take a shower, and came back to this?

Thank goodness next week is a whole new ballgame.

Colin: The Playground Chronicles

We have the pox...

...of the sticker variety.

Kate

I love: dogs, the ocean, Crocs, doing things "on my owns", Leonardo The Terrible Monster, flannel blankets, jumping, The Office theme song, dancing, brownie batter and tutus.

I dislike: sleeping, blender noises, public restrooms, clothing, Grave Digger toys and drains.

I am loud. I am fast. I am obsessed with my brother. I am strong. I am easily persuaded to be happy. I am unforgettable.

I am two. Hear me roar.

Fresh.

Readers, I'm back and I'm READY TO ROCK! Did you miss me? You know you did. Buckle in--I bring you fresh, bullet-y goodness!

• Christmas family picture season is almost done for me. I got really overwhelmed there. Way more people booked me than I thought would. Yeah, I know--my golden bed also scratches me and my diamond shoes are too tight. It's a rough life.
  
  These boys were my favorite. I learned some gross new jokes.
  
  
• Blake got stung by a bee. Turns out Blake is allergic to bees. Being the medical doctor that I am, I pronounced he had "the flu" and then spent the rest of the day avoiding him like the plague to keep from getting "the flu". As wife points go, I give myself a 2 out of 10 (the 2 because I did take the kids wherever I was avoiding him from)

• Colin's kindergarten teacher had her baby. Not huge news for you, but I came this close to jamming this little girl in my camera bag and carrying her home. Wouldn't you?

• We are still really obsessed with our Halloween costumes here:

• At photo shoots, I really really like to have kids make funny faces.

• I have more, but I don't want to overwhelm you today. Now you may write me a comment about how your life was dull and meaningless without me.

Time-Out.

*Kate in time out after unsuccessfully trying to sneak candy.

I thought I went too long without blogging, and then when I came back to my dashboard it turns out I've only been silent here for four days. I know, you're all going through major withdrawal, aren't you? Clawing at your faces and going "WHEN? WHEN WILL SHE RETURN?"

But guys, you when I thought I was overwhelmed before? That was nothing. I woke up at 4 am this morning freaking out about getting things done. Did I do those things? Hell no, it was 4 am!

So I'm taking a teeny break. In my absence check out this, this and this. Totally random links I love. You're welcome.

*Kate after I gave in on the candy issue. Just this once.

The Weekend In Pictures

The Weekend In Pictures never fails to impress with it's randomness.

From a family shoot this weekend. A whole family of redheads!

How was your spook-tacular weekend?

The Deal With Kate's Costume.

So Internet, you know that I was hard core into Kate's Halloween costume this year. Hello? She was a bee. A bee with a tutu. That I made.

Sadly, she didn't care about that. She wanted to be Batman. Naked Batman. So I have five million pictures of this:

And about oh, one of this:

This was after trick-or-treating in my dark kitchen. Yes, she's eating a sprinkle off the floor. We are nothing if not classy. Notice the red eyes, messy hair and absence of bee wings. You can't even see her shoes!

I have this big plan to get her redressed (word?) and in some sort of field being a fabulous bee. But that is going to have to wait. I have some of her candy to eat.

Was I a little too italics happy on this post? Discuss.

I Eat Politics For Dinner.

In the heat of the political race, I'm come up with a solution for peace (see previous crisis solving)

These cookies.

I say we throw them at each other in the heat of our political debate. That way everyone wins.

Chocolate Sandwich Cookies with Vanilla-Cream Filling

Ingredients:

For Cookie Dough:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
1 large egg

For Vanilla-Cream Filling:
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter at room temperature
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
2 cups powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In a food processor, mix together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, salt and sugar. While pulsing or on low speed, add the butter, then the egg. Process until the dough is blended together.

(here's where it went a little insane. I thought the cookies looked too dry--kind of like cat litter--yum. So I added about 4 TBsps water. I would say add one TBsp at a time until it looks cookieish. Yes, cookieish)

Drop rounded teaspoons of batter onto nonstick or parchment-lined cookie sheets at 2-inch intervals. With moistened fingers, round out the cookies and flatten them a little.

(advice again. I use one of those little ice cream scoops to get these out. Touch them as little as possible--they tend to crumble. I'm not kidding about the moistened fingers thing. Also, I kind of hate the word moistened. Ew.)

Bake for 9 minutes, turning the pans once for even baking, until the cookies are set. Set the cookie sheets on a rack to cool.

To make the filling: Put the butter and shortening in a mixing bowl and, at low speed, gradually beat in the confectioners' sugar and vanilla, until blended. Turn the mixer up to high and beat for 2 or 3 minutes more, until fluffy.

Frost bottom of cookie (I swear the word cookie has lost all meaning) and smoosh together with another cookie, making a cookie-ice-cream-sandwich-type-thing. Which I forgot to take a picture of.

(are you sick of me? I made these for Halloween and added three drops of red food coloring and two drops of yellow to the filling)

Enjoy!

Have a Happy Halloween?

We did.

Our two kids had a full adult entourage following them trick-or-treating. It was awesome. I kept Colin home from school to do baking and lounging with Kate and I all day. Fabulous and fattening.

Here's Colin dressed midday in some of his Batman costume. A Batman hood with Superman underoos--I think that's clearly a conflict of interests.

Happy Halloween everyone!

Lucky, lucky me.

This is my gorgeous alarm clock.

Spooky Brownies

I'm in charge of Colin's kindergarten class Halloween treat. In true Harmony form, I must make their snack BETTER. THAN. ANY. SNACK. EVER.

Therefore, these ghost brownies (thanks Sharon for the link) Isn't he cute? I think I'm going to name him Shawn.

Although he looks a little forlorn. Here's a kissy face just for my loyal blog readers.

Mmmwah!

Update: If you are thinking of making these (and why wouldn't you? They're awesome) I heated the frosting for 20 seconds and then poured it over SLOWLY around the top outer rim of the marshmallow. Go SLOW! I used Red Hots for the eyes--drawing eyes is not for me. Smoochy mouths? That's another story)

Shake Your Groove Thang

Kate knows how to shake it. What's that? What's she dancing to?

That's right people. It's Romanian. Culture, people. Culture.

The Weekend In Pictures

Things we learned this weekend:

A pumpkin patch in 90 degree weather is not as magical as it sounds.

Kate has some hitch in her giddy-up. We don't know what that means either.

Shoes really do make the outfit. (thanks Mom!)

Dental hygiene is important.

Colin is cute...

...although he might need to start shaving. Or has rabies.