The Birthday Cake Experiment

Today began my the first day of the birthday cake assembly.  You may think that I am crazy, and you may be right, but there are people that start this WEEKS in advance!  That seems a little too over the top for me, plus I can't imagine that the cake would taste any good after sitting around for a week or two, just saying.  Anyway, since it's Zoe's first birthday and she's my first baby, I HAD to go a little crazy for her birthday, right?!  Anyway, I decided to keep it a basic yellow cake with a whipped chocolate ganache middle and chocolate buttercream icing on the outside.  I'm going to decorate and cover it with marshmallow fondant tomorrow with my sister in law, Erin, so I will post the completed pictures tomorrow.  I have to say, the cake turned out really good.  I was a bit over exuberant with my ingredients so I ended up with enough to make a small sheet cake to taste.  Steve was very disappointed in having to taste test...lol.  I got all my recipes online at various recipe websites.  I just chose them based on the reviews they had.  I really liked how the yellow cake turned out.  I must admit, I have never actually made a yellow cake from scratch before!  After making this, however, I've decided it is SO much yummier.  Here's the website I found it at if you're interested:

http://smittenkitchen.com/2009/07/best-birthday-cake/

I didn't use the frosting recipe she recommended just because I was "dirty" icing the cake for fondant and I wasn't sure if her frosting would work well with it but it looks good too.  I will have to try it another time.  Instead, I just used a basic chocolate buttercream icing recipe.

Believe it or not, I took this picture AFTER I had iced the cake.  Yes, I went a little overboard on the icing.  I was just nervous about not having enough since I was making a double decker cake.  For the center of the cake I made a whipped chocolate ganache frosting.  Here's a picture of it before I whipped it:

If you like dark chocolate, holy hannah...is this the icing for you!!!  Yumm-O!  I just got the recipe for this from the Food Network website.  It's an Alton Brown recipe although it's pretty darn basic and you can find similar recipes all over the internet:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/ganache-frosting-recipe/index.html

When I started putting the parts of the cake together, I was a little afraid that the ganache would be too soft and cause the cake to slip and slide off but it held together.  I'm hoping a night in the refrigerator will help it solidify.  Here's the semi-finished product (tomorrow is decorating day!):

I thought I did a pretty darn good job for this being my first time for a huge cake.  I really enjoyed myself today too.  Maybe this is a hobby that I can start getting into.  We'll see:-)  Anyway, I will post pictures of the finished product soon and, of course, pictures of the birthday party too.  We are doing a "Wild about 1" theme for Miss Zoe.  Zebra print, hot pink and lime green!  Should be fun:-)

Introducing the Newest Member of the Arnold Family....Monty!

Well, at least being sick forces me to stay inside catching up on things like my blog, right?!?!  Anyway, I just wanted to share the news that we have decided to get another dog.  Yes, I already know that we are crazy but, hey, if ya have one dog already, it's not like having a second one is going to add too much to the craziness, right?!  Anyway, my friend and visiting teacher, Helen, breads her yorkshire terriers and Monty is from their most recent litter.  We couldn't resist!  His Mommy and Daddy are sweet and very social little dogs who love kids and we had been talking about getting second dog soon so we figured, what the hay!  Plus, this is a great time for me to train a dog now that Zoe is getting older and before we are thinking about having a second baby.  It will give me plenty of time to get him all trained and ready to go before another human baby hits the scene:-)  He is, of course, still with his Mommy and will be until the end of next month but we will keep you posted...isn't he just the cutest thing ever?!?!

On the GO:-)

Man, I am the worst at keeping my blog up to date!  I'm hoping now that Zoe is getting older, I will actually have more and more to post.  I have discovered the the first year of having a baby, especially when it's your first child, you really don't have many exciting things to post.  Not that life isn't exciting...cause it sure is.  But it's mostly exciting to you and not necessarily things that your friends and family would get all worked up about.  Zoe is starting to really get mobile.  She's not crawling, per say, but she pretty much does everything but.  Her doctor said she may be just one of those kids that starts walking before she actually crawls.  We'll have to wait and see.  We are getting prepped for the big birthday next month...can't even believe that she's going to be 1 already!  Time flies!  We'll post pictures soon.  I think I might start another blog and gather ideas and activities that I find to help stay at home moms keep their kids interested and engaged in the world around them.  I'm starting to look around for stuff and I'm finding that there are lots of things out there but they're kind of scattered so you have to dig.  It might be fun to gather some of those ideas into one place and talk about my experiences doing them with Zoe.  I will post more later!

2011: In the beginning...

Zoe sporting her winter hat from Aunt Heidi...we'll need it for Chicago!

Zoe turned 9 months today!!!  I can't believe how big my little girl is getting.  We are well into January already and I've been doing fairly well at keeping up with my resolution of exercising every weekday.  It sometimes means getting up early since I never know if Zoe is going to be in the mood to watch Mommy sweet like an ice cube in the sun.  Even though I hurt by Saturday, it was a "good" pain:-)

We are super excited to fly to Chicago next week to see friends and freeze our bums off.  It will be Zoe's first flight...we'll see how that goes.  I'm just glad Steve will be there too so we can share the adventure.  He's got business up there and we had some frequent flier miles so...off we go!  We'll share our travel log when we get back!

MERRY CHRISTMAS 2010

Hello to all our friends and family!
I realize that I have been neglectful of my blogging duties of late.  Time seems to run away from us these days.  We have had a wonderful holiday season thus far.  We started with a road trip to Utah to celebrate Thanksgiving with the Arnold clan.  Zoe had a lot of fun visiting with cousins and being showered with love and kisses from Grandma and Grandpa Arnold.  We came back to Texas ready for a wonderful 1st Christmas with Zoe!  We even got a real tree this year for the occasion, complete with about a loud of presents for Miss Zoe and one or two for Mom and Dad:-)
Zoe is now talking up a storm.  She'll have whole conversations to herself before mommy comes to get her from her crib in the morning and continues to be a very happy and sweet baby.  She has been the greatest Christmas present we've every had.
Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!  I will try to do better at updates in the future.

Zoe Update

Here's the day in the life of Zoe:
Mommy has been trying to get me to sleep until 6 before giving me my morning bottle.  I can't always wait until then but I try really hard.  I like to make my Mommy happy.  We are good friends already and I know she likes being home with me.  Most of the time I can make it until around 5.  I have a bottle and than I can usually convince Mommy to bring me back to bed with her.  I'm doing a great job of sleeping in my own crib most of the night now but I still like to snuggle with Mommy in her bed.  I think she likes it too.
I like to reach for toys and grab almost anything now.  When I drink my bottles, I always put my hand on Mommy's face and pat her cheek.  Some of my favorite things to do are to talk to Mommy and Daddy and listen to music.  Music helps me to feel better when I am sad.  Most of the time, I am a very happy girl though. 
I started to eat cereal a few weeks ago and I like it.  I always laugh and smile when I'm eating my food to show Mommy that I like it. It feels funny in my mouth and on my hands.  Sometimes I put my hands in my mouth while I'm eating to feel the cereal.  It's very squishy!
I am still not sure about naps.  I don't really have set times that I like to sleep during the day.  Mostly, I like to take cat naps.  I'm sort of settling into a schedule, but not quite yet.  Most days, I will take a small nap in the morning around 10 and another one in the afternoon around 3.  They usually only last about a half hour or so.  There's just too much to learn and see to take more time to nap!
I don't like to brag too much, but I must say that I've been doing a good job at taking my bottle at night and going to sleep around 9.  I like it when Mommy sits next to my crib for a few minutes before leaving the room.  Mommy always puts my fan on because I like to noise it makes while I sleep.  I also like my bear that makes a heart beat sound.  They help me relax.  I am a very light sleeper and it's sometimes hard for me to settle down and close my eyes.

 I like to play with Mommy and Daddy.  One of my favorite things is when Mommy and Daddy blow on my tummy.  It makes me giggle.  Mommy and Daddy love my big pretty smile.  It lights up my whole face!
I'm doing a great job holding my head up and can now sit up in a bumbo seat and almost in a high chair.  Mommy gives me a bath every other day.  I have a special baby tub that I use up on the bathroom counter and I love to look at myself in the mirror while Mommy washes me.  I'm getting so long, though, that I don't know if I'll be able to use the bath much longer.  I'll have to start using the big girl tub soon.
My furry doggie sister, Hope, is very protective of me.  She gets upset when Mommy and Daddy burp me sometimes.  She likes to protect me when people are at my house that she doesn't know.  She will sit right next to me and make sure that I am safe.
I LOVE to talk!  Sometimes I like to talk in church during sacrament meeting.  I am so happy to be alive and I want everyone to know it!
So far, I like being here and am a happy girl.  I am excited to learn lots of new things!

South Beach Dieting and Solid Foods

So, now that I am done breast feeding and back to a semi-normal schedule, I have decided to try the South Beach diet to loose the pregnancy belly along with the extra baggage I had before we got prego.  I had initially lost about 15 pounds when we found out we were having Zoe so I figure that if I can get into shape before we try to have another baby (which won't be for a little while) I'll be better off.  Steve wants to do it with me so we started last week.  Anyone who has done South Beach knows that the first phase of the program is pretty darn tough.  We are looking forward to next week when we can start adding the carbs back onto the menu.  I've even started dreaming about bagels...I know, I need some more excitement in my life:-)  I do think that the South Beach diet is one of the more reasonable diets out there right now.  I think it's a good one if you are looking for a diet program that will actually teach you to keep the weight off, not just loose it.  It's all about making those lifestyle changes that will help support healthy living for the long hull.
On another note, Zoe is already 4 months old and is starting to eat solids!  I can't believe how fast the time has flown.  We were intending on waiting to start her until she was 6 months but I felt she was ready for it and the doctor said to go ahead and start.  She has been chewing and gnawing on everything lately and has been very interested on watching us eat.  I bought the rice and oatmeal cereals last week and we've started on having it once a day.  The Pediatrician says she doesn't need it as an essential part of her diet yet but that we could experiment with it the next few months if she seemed ready.  So far, she is really liking the oatmeal.  Once she's been on that for a while, I'll start adding in some veggies.  I really want to make my own baby food.  I bought a book on different things you can do at home...we'll see how it goes.