Mother's Day (all 4 of my babies on their first day of life!)

Since it is Mother's Day, I wanted to put up a memory of all my 4 babies!

Baby # 1
Lilliana Tiger was born in the water at home in Fairfield, IA, after midnight on Thursday, May 18, 2000. She was 7 lbs. 2 oz. and 22 inches long.
Lily was a determined baby, and so aware!


Baby #2
Skylar Anthony was born just barely out of the water at home in Fairfield, IA, just before noon or "just in time for lunch" (as I like to say) on Saturday, March 29, 2003. He was 10 lbs.
Skylar was very settled and he actually gained a pound a week and so by the time he was just 6 weeks old he was wearing the clothes of a one-year old!

Baby # 3
Alexis Arianna Ceylon was born in the water at home in Fairfield, IA, at 7:00 AM exactly on Monday, April 8, 2008. She was 9 lbs, 9 oz. and 23 inches long.
Alexis was a very happy, quiet baby!

Baby # 4
Sofia Sienna Lanai was born in the water at home in Rapid City, SD, at 9:24 AM on Monday, July 31, 2009. She was 8 lbs, 12 oz. and 21.5 inches long.
Sofia melted into our large family perfectly!

Chocolate Covered Marzipan! (Homemade!)

Tonight I made homemade Marzipan covered with Semisweet Chocolate!

 

All I did was put raw almonds in my Vitaprep (Vitamix) and blended until powdery.  Then I added some granulated sugar and powdered sugar,  and tiny a bit of almond extract and water to taste and proper consistency.  I melted some semisweet chocolate chips and rolled the chilled marzipan balls in it. Flash it in the freezer for a few minutes and it's done!

(When you don't blanch the almonds, this is what it looks like!  But blanching the almonds first will give you the traditional white colored marzipan.)

I can't wait to experiment with this more! I remember making this years ago, but now I have so many fun ideas to try with it- like adding natural colors, or shaping it into leaves or other little designs for topping cakes!