Laters, Baby Shower!

Today I co-hosted a baby shower for my good friend Danielle, who's expecting number three.   Since she got pregnant shortly after reading the Fifty Shades of Grey Trilogy, our "inner goddesses"  decided to have some fun with the theme.   The food and décor turned out so fantastically that I had to share the photos, so enjoy.   Now, "laters, baby!"

 

 

 

Happy Birthday, America!

We spent a rainy Fourth of July with Greg's youngest sibling, Sara, this year.   Despite the never ending barrage of rain, we squeezed in lots of fun activities to include the Peachtree Road Race, Avery's bowling debut, the High Museum, the Red Hare Brewery tour and Marietta Square.   Here are some pictures of our adventures.  Take that, rain!

Overzealous Zucchini

There’s an absolute zucchini explosion in our garden – I literally think it’s been raining Miracle Grow. Over the last two weeks, I’ve blazed through my zucchini recipe repertoire: parmesan roasted zucchini, garlic and red pepper roasted zucchini, grilled zucchini and fried zucchini. So, in an effort to avoid giving the harvest to all my friends and the nice neighbors, I turned to zucchini bread. Specifically, I gave this recipe from King Arthur Flour for Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread a whirl. Well, one batch in and I can officially say it’s changed my life!   Here's the recipe so you can join me in zucchini zen.  Do note that I adapted King Arthur Flour's recipe below by making 18 regular sized muffins and baking them for 25 minutes. 

Ingredients:

2 large eggs

1/3 cup honey

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon espresso powder (optional but I used it)

1/3 cup baking cocoa (I used Hershey’s dark cocoa)

1 2/3 cups unbleached all purpose flour

2 cups shredded, unpeeled zucchini, gently pressed

1 cup chocolate chips (I used mini chips)

Directions:

1) Preheat the oven to 350°F; lightly grease an 8 1/2" x 4 1/2" loaf pan.

2) In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs, honey, oil, sugar, and vanilla until smooth.

3) Add the salt, baking soda, baking powder, espresso powder, cocoa, and flour, mixing until well combined.

4) Stir in the zucchini and chocolate chips.

5) Pour the batter into the prepared pan.

6) Bake the bread for 65 to 75 minutes, until the loaf tests done (a toothpick or cake tester inserted into the center will come out clean, save for perhaps a light smear of chocolate from the melted chips).

7) Remove the bread from the oven, and let it cool for 10 to 15 minutes before turning it out of the pan onto a rack.

8) Cool completely before slicing; store well-wrapped, at room temperature.

Yield: one 8 1/2" x 4 1/2" loaf (or about 18 muffins)

Star Lake Vacation

We spent the last week with Meme and Pa and our close friends the Zachs on beautiful Star Lake in Northern WI.    It was a relaxing week with lots of good food and good times and I can't believe all we have left now are the memories!  

 

Miss Avery especially loved playing with the Zach boys and her cousins and even swam in the 65 degree lake... while Meme preferred to fall backwards into it!  I got plenty of R&R in with so many people around to entertain Avery, and really loved kayaking daily on the lake and finding loons, fish and eagles while the boys (including my Dad) got up daily at 4:30 am to fish for walleye.   They were rewarded for the efforts with enough fish for three frys!   It was a great week, one that I think we'd all like to replicate next year.  Here are just a few of the week's photos.   More to follow in another post.

 

 Enjoying a morning cruise on the pontoon.

 Avery LOVED being Lucas' sidekick.   I do think he was a bit taken aback by our little chatterbox who spent most of the week blasting "I Love It" on her mom's iphone, but he handled it like a champ!

 Greg with all his siblings.

All the Bayer cousins - Sonnet (12), Forrest (1), Evan (2), Avery (4) and Eli (11).   I seriously just love this photo.   Little Miss Personality stole the spotlight!

Recital Weekend

After months of Creative Movement classes at the dance academy, Avery finally made her stage debut!  She really enjoyed getting dressed and made up and did great dancing with her partner, Lila.  The first three photos are from dress rehearsal as they asked us not to take photos or video as the performance.  Her concentration face just cracks me up!

She was thrilled to get her very own bouquet of flowers after the show.   As for us, we can't wait to watch the performance again on the $35 DVD we ordered!   Congratulations to our little ballerina!

Mother's Day 2013

We celebrated this Mother's Day weekend with Muffins with Mom at Avery's school, strawberry picking, and the Roman Roast BBQ Festival.   

 

 Avery wasn't too into picking berries, I think because she knew her "most favoritist ever" strawberry ice cream was waiting for her at the end!

 

The Roman Roast was a lot of fun and a big success this year!   The boys placed third in chicken and won a nice trophy.   I will humbly claim a small piece of the victory as I made the barbecue sauce they used on the chicken!

 

 

I enjoyed muffins with Mom, too, and took home several very special handmade gifts.   I am so lucky to be Avery's mom - she brings a smile to my face and warmth to my heart every day!

 

Blogging Hiatus

Where has the last month gone?   April flew by and I neglected to update the blog!   We kept busy by spending a weekend in Chattanooga, planting our garden, patronizing the Big Shanty Festival with friends, and preparing for Avery's May 19 dance recital debut.    Here are a few photos from our adventures.