THE FLORIDA AQUARIUM...

We had such an amazing day at the Aquarium. Some may say I have gone photo happy in this blog, but I'm sure you'll all enjoy them!!
This was actually toward the end of the day. As you can see, Nick was unwilling to cooperate with the camera, and Jack was getting a little irritable. Momma and her boys. :) How loved am I?!

This is sort of an accidental photo, but I love Jack's chubby face. The small yellow thing is a sea horse that has wrapped it's tail around this plant. They were so cute, and there are so many different types of sea horses, I never knew! Some look like plants, and some look like worms...

Another Jack photo, in front of the stingray tank. There was this one stingray that kept flapping it's side on the edge of the tank, and even jumped up onto it!! It was really cool, I think it was trying to escape!

I know this one's sideways... I couldn't figure out how to rotate it, then I couldnt figure out how to delete it... But Jack's face is cute!!

At the very end there was a playground and a water park. (Had I known about that before, we would have brought our swimsuits... Or at least Nick's.

At the stingray tank.. I just love his little attitude in this photo.

Nick was IN LOVE with the stingrays. ("That's his eyes mom?") He wasn't scared of them at all, he definitely wouldn't pet them though.

Oh, a baby turtle! ! There were kids everywhere, and I was snapping photos left and right. The older kids would make sure no one got in the way, so I could take pictures. ha ha. Tourists have photo- etiquite!

I'm so glad we got the opportunity to have a great day as a family at the Aquarium. We all had a blast! (Sorry about the picture overload! I just had to share!)

THE FLORIDA AQUARIUM...

This was a humungous tank full of bigger salt water fish. As you can tell, Nick was all into it. He would stand at a tank for about 5 minutes, just to look at everything. if you look on the right hand side of the photo, you can sort of make out one of the sharks. These are some of the smaller fish, I just loved Nick's expression in this photo.

This was the alligator tank. I chose this photo because you can see the alligators, that just hang under water, with their eyes just above the water line. ( I thought that was so cool) But, you an also see Nick and Cameron's expressions in the glass.

This is Nick and Dad, both loving the fishies, and learning.

Thank goodness for our Military discounts. We, as a family loved going to the Aquarium. We learned a lot and had a great great time!!

OUR LITTLE FISHIES!

This is from about 6 weeks ago, but I figured I'd post some pictures of our love of the pool. Cameron gets the job of chasing Nick around, and I get the job of holding Jack, and keeping him content, lol. This was before we got floaties, and probably Nick's 2nd or 3rd time actually in the pool. He LOVES the water, and is too brave. He will stand on the edge, with or without floaties, and just jump in. (He takes after his Grandmother...) See the expression on his face? He LOVES LOVES LOVES the water!! I bet he's the next Michael Phelps, without the controversy, and MUCH cuter!! :)

And, our 'beauty queen'. Taking photos while I've been swimming? Not such a great idea, but buoyant little Jack also loves the pool, unless he's hungry. He kicks his little feet around, and started splashing!

SPROUTING LIKE BEAN STALKS...

Oh, my boys are sprouting like bean stalks!! Nickolas is getting super independent, and I'm starting to see the wheels in his head turning. He is remembering things now. His favorite show, "Yo Gabba Gabba" has a section where they do a "dancey dance". It teaches a dance, and then they all do it together. There are about 4 of these dances that he knows by heart, and performs on a daily basis. He can count to 10 mostly by himself now. (He skips four every now and then.) He is going to be my kid that has a bunch of hobbies and interests. He is interested in SO many things. He loves to watch the ducks, that sit right outside of our home, on the lake. He loves to help me in the kitchen. He will sit on the counter, and I'll hand him the measured ingredients to pour into our bowl. He loves to sing songs- itsy bitsy spider, patty cake, and of course, his 'Yo Gabba Gabba' songs. He knows a lot of the lines in these songs. It's so amazing to me, that he's already remembering multiple things. He loves to ride his bikes, and play with matchbox cars. He knows all the exterior parts of his body, and loves to point them out! I think he is also learning the art of manipulation. (darn it!) He is getting so big. I miss my little baby sometimes.

Jack is not so little anymore either! He is sitting up, almost all by himself. He can pull himself up into an almost sitting position. He has found his feet as of the other day, and tries to pull them into his mouth (along with everything else). He is also starting to scoot. He will scoot up and down the length of the bed, and of his crib. He can roll over, and is starting to grab at anything he can see, including my face. He likes to put his mouth on my cheeks. I call them my baby kisses. He is very much a needy baby, but loves to look around, and be in the action. The other day, Lucky (the dog) jumped on top of Nick, and Jack just cracked up laughing. I thought it was hilarious. It gave me a little peek into his 'growing up' side. He loves to go on walks. When we walk our dog in the evening, he will just sit in the stroller, and take in the evening air. :)

I wish life weren't going by so fast! I just love every minute with these special spirits I get to keep and take care of.

RECIPE- MAPLE GLAZED PORK CHOPS

I tried this recipe for the first time last night. It was so super easy, and WAY yummy. It might sound strange, but there is just enough sweetness to really make these chops sing. Definitely try this one!
INGREDIENTS:
4 Pork Chops
2 TB Olive Oil
1 C. Chicken Stock
1 tsp. Thyme
1/4 c. Maple Syrup
( If you make your syrup from scratch, use a little more- I did, and used about a half cup, also add a little brown sugar in addition to white sugar. It makes it perfectly sweet)
1 TB lemon juice
Salt/Pepper
DIRECTIONS:
Season Chops with salt and pepper. Preheat a large skillet over medium-high heat with 2 TB Olive Oil. When the oil begins to ripple, add the pork chops and sear for two minutes on each side. Then turn the heat down to medium heat and cook another 5-6 minutes. (Be careful not to make the pan too hot, and burn the sides, with a raw middle...)
While your chops are cooking, mix the stock, maple syrup, lemon juice, and thyme.
When the chops are cooked, transfer them to a plate, and wrap in foil to keep warm. Add your maple syrup mixture to the pan your chops were cooking in, and let heat and bubble. Once bubbly, add the chops back to the pan with the glaze, and flip them around to coat them well.
My glaze wasn't very thick, so I made a simple gravy, I had about 3/4 c. of liquid left.
GRAVY:
1TB butter
1TB flour
leftover liquid.
Heat your butter- just before it gets bubbly- right as it's melted, add your flour and whisk. Stir consistently for about a minute, to let the flour taste cook out. Add your glaze liquid, stir for about two minutes, until it thickens- make sure you whisk the entire time so it's not lumpy. No need to season, it will taste perfect. I also added about 1 TB of cream, to make it more creamy.

I served the chops with Rosemary/ Olive Oil Roasted Potatoes, and steamed broccoli. It was a fabulous dinner, Nick ate most of it. ( It probably helps that there was a maple flavor! )
The chops are a Rachael Ray recipe.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!! :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!! (A.K.A GRANDMA!)

When Nick found out it was Grandma's Birthday, we called her to wish her a happy day. He said "Happy Birthday!!" in the phone, and then continued to sing and shout the 'Happy Birthday Song' for the rest of the morning. And asked several times, "It's Grandma's Birthday?"

(So, let it be shown, that we were all thinking about you today!) In honor of your birthday, we made cupcakes. I wanted to try a new recipe, so I make Red Velvet cupcakes, with Cream Cheese frosting... Seriously, they were to die for!! :)

HERE'S THE RECIPE:

INGREDIENTS:

CUPCAKES:
15 1/2 ounces all-purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1 1/4 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
13 ounces granulated sugar
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
3 eggs
2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons red food coloring
1 1/4 teaspoons vinegar (white or apple cider can both work)
1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/8 cup water
FROSTING:

1 1/2 pounds cream cheese, room temperature
1 pound butter, room temperature
2 pounds powdered sugar, sifted
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS:

FOR THE CUPCAKES
Preheat oven 350 degrees F.
Sift together flour, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder into a bowl and set aside.
In a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, mix oil, sugar, and buttermilk until combined. Add eggs, food coloring, vinegar, vanilla and water and mix well. Add the dry ingredients a little bit at a time and mix on low, scraping down sides occasionally, and mix until just combined. Be sure not to over mix, or the batter will come out tough.
Line a 16-cup cupcake pan with paper liners, scoop the batter into the liners and bake at 350 degrees F for 20 to 30 minutes or until the toothpick comes out clean. Let cool. (I did 20 minutes)
FOR THE FROSTING:

Whip the butter and cream cheese together in a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment until creamed. Gradually add powdered sugar to the mixture and scrape down the bowl as needed. Add the vanilla and mix until combined.
The frosting can be used right away, or stored in the refrigerator up to a week.
Frost cooled cupcakes with the cream cheese frosting.

These were super super delicious. I aboslutely loved them!!

These were very light and fluffy, not too moist, not too dry- The perfect consistancy for my little taste buds!! Make sure you use real butter for the frosting. I had one go around with marg. and it didn't taste as good, or set up as well.

They made about 2 doz. cupcakes. I used my icecream scooper to measure them all the same.

I found this recipe on foodnetwork.com

BUSCH GARDENS... IS A BUST!!

Right as we entered the gate... The happiest moment of the day trip!! :) If you look, you can see how miserable Nick is the whole time!! We tried to stop at the Flamingo's, he couldn't even hardly see them... We tried to have fun in the kid land, but Nick was not having any of it!! Oh well!!
So, our 2nd week in Florida, we decided we would try to go to Busch Gardens with Nickolas, Jackson, Cameron, Jocelyn- my sister, and myself. We got in free because of our Military ID's. We packed a lunch, sunscreen, the whole 9 yards. Before we got inside, we put sunscreen on, and some sunscreen accidentally dripped into Nick's eye. This was the beginning of the end, unfortunately!! We washed out Nick's little eye, and tried to be troopers, and have fun. We made it to the kid section, and Nick was too short for most of the rides. Jocelyn and I were starting to get sick from all of the heat that we weren't used to, and Nick was miserable from the sunscreen in his eye... We didnt get to any of the rides, and we were all disappointed... Maybe we'll try again some other time.