Homemade Ice Cream Cake

I don’t cook, but I do bake. I like to make cookies and brownies, though I’ve never ventured into the cake territory (except for boxed, but I don’t really think that counts). A co-worker made this lovely ice cream cake for another’s birthday a few weeks ago and I was sold. She shared the recipe with me, and the great thing about this cake is that is can be made completely unique for every birthday!

This was hers (pardon the phone photo)

And this was mine.

Brian picked out his cookie base and topping and his flavors. He chose lady finger vanilla and creme cookies, and triple chocolate peanut butter sundae ice cream, and french vanilla of course. It was so easy though it did need a food processor, but you could probably get by without one and just crush some cookies in a bag “manually”.

I’m no expert at spreading things, so I made the whipped cream flat, and layered some more crushed cookie on top. So it didn’t look as fancy as the recipe photos, but it tasted great. I have orders for the next birthday already!

So was it cheaper than just buying one from the store? Here’s the break down:

I did my cake in a 10-1/2 inch spring form instead of 9 inch like the recipe calls for, so I needed more ice cream. I have a little french vanilla left over, but I used 3 full pints of the chocolate peanut butter (ice cream usually comes in quarts, so I bought 1-1/2 quarts of two flavors of ice cream)

  • Ice cream was 2 for $6 on sale – $6
  • $4.50 ice cream sandwiches (there were 12 in the box, and I used about 8-1/2)
  • $2.50 cookies (this is a guesstimate, they were on sale also)
  • $1.25 cool whip (on sale for 4 for $5… we didn’t buy 4 though..)

Our total was $14.25, cheaper than the typical $20 ice cream cake. Win!

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Memorial Weekend

So far, we’ve had a lovely weekend. Brian took off work on Thursday and Friday, so we had an unheard of 5 day weekend. I guess you might call it a staycation. We spent Thursday seeing the Hangover Part II (which I enjoyed almost as much as the first, even with the same plot line) and then running a few errands but otherwise enjoying each other’s company.

Friday was spent more or less the same, relaxing at home and outside whenever we could. Jameson also spent a few hours at the new daycare where apparently he has decided he is the big kid and can pull off other babies socks. So cute! I wish I had seen it. Apparently he was cracking himself up while doing it and even the teacher commented on his funny catching-his-breath baby giggles.

Saturday after the farmers market we enjoyed a little family cookout for Brian’s birthday at his parents. And along with a few cute moments like this:

Jameson also discovered chewing on his toes! I was pretty excited, because the doctor informed us at his 4 month visit that not all babies play with their feet. But I think it is so adorable!

The dessert I made was also a hit. I’ll be sharing that soon too.

Sunday, I did some photo editing. I try to stay away, but I just can’t. It’s not work, it’s play! I love it. We also went over to the neighbor’s cookout. Jameson was great for a couple hours before he needed another nap. This little guy is sleeping all the time now, maybe a growth spurt? I do think he’s teething though too because he has two little bumps. (Even the daycare ladies agreed with me, so not a false alarm like last time, I think!).

Tomorrow we are having a few friends over ourselves, with JP and Lisa and their son Jonathan. She is currently on a special diet, and since we are both nursing, I found a recipe I clipped out of a Better Homes & Gardens a while ago for a non-alcoholic drink called June Bug. I even found some sorbet that is dairy free for Lisa. Hopefully it turns out good, it sounds very tasty.

I hate for this weekend to end, but I know I have an exciting week ahead at the new job.

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for the man who has everything…

For the man who has everything, you hope that something breaks before his birthday.

I think gift giving is particularly hard for me. Because the problem with Brian and my dad all men is that they always buy what they want right before their birthday or holiday! I got lucky this year in that our old George Foreman broke down leaving a convenient void in our household appliances, easily remedied with a birthday gift this year, idea courtesy of my mom. So I bought Brian a Griddler.

Okay okay, for anyone really thinking about this, you know that the last thing you need in the summer is an indoor grill. Fair enough, but as a bonus, I even bought some waffle plates for him for me. See, we have this old waffle iron from my grandma’s that makes the most amazing waffles. However, it happens to be a fire/ electric shock/ baby hazard. So I’m hoping these new waffle plates will be a perfect replacement, because I love waffles five times more than I love pancakes.

Jameson of course needed to get him a little something as well. Because bucko bucks have already been spent, Jameson didn’t want to go overboard and purchased him a little something that they can play in together (sort of…haha) in a month or two when Jameson is sitting up.

Now, the best gifts I ever gave have always been homemade, but don’t worry, there’s Father’s Day coming up for a bit of crafty fun (inspiration courtesy pinterest). Sorry dear readers but I can’t share until complete.

Happy Birthday Mr. Husband Sir.

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Spoon = Fun (+ Mess)

On Wednesday, Jameson had his 4 month (2 weeks late) appointment. He is in perfect health, still a little peanut in the 10th percentile for weight. He weighed 13.4 pounds and is 24-1/2 inches long. He even showed off for us, rolling over! I finally got to see him do it, but alas he is still camera shy so I don’t have video of him rolling to share just yet.

Doc said he is gummy, so no teeth yet! And I could’ve sworn he really was actively teething… guess he was just being cranky. My baby is still toothless for sure.

The doctor gave us the go ahead to start feeding him cereal. We asked about what kinds of foods to give him since he has this odd habit of “holding it in” for days. Not regular at all. So she recommended some oatmeal or multi-grain with more fiber in it.

Though, really, we probably could’ve started sooner… but I kind of like my little sweet baby. I have mixed feelings across the board when it comes to Mr. Jameson getting bigger. I love seeing him do new things and become more active, but sometimes I miss him when he was wee little, sleepy all the time (particularly on mom) and I was home just drinking him in.

Anyway, he has been sticking his tongue out at us for about a week now and knowing he has more control over it, it seemed appropriate to start teaching him the spoon on Friday.

He liked it the oatmeal plus milk… up until the point where he decided that the spoon wasn’t fast enough dangit! But on Sunday for his second try, he got really good at it and ate more. He also tried to chomp and grab at the spoon himself, so I suppose it might become his new favorite toy.

Saturday, Brian and I celebrated my 26th birthday. I am on the later half of the twenties now, which I suppose makes me old awesome. Brian will always be older though, so I don’t mind. Jameson got me Pinocchio which we are going to watch together, and a digital picture frame. Funny that we had gotten one for every other member of the family but never had one ourselves! I already put some photos in it.

Speaking of picture frames, I have a small pile now of black frames which I want to put up in the entry way or stairway, I can’t decide, in a method similar to this:


Or these others.

On Friday, work had a huge sample sale, and I accumulated some more picture frames for this purpose, as well as some other giftable items and craft supplies. One of these days, I’ll get around to crafting again. Just have to find that time. My next project will be a table runner and/or placemats. And maybe some new pillow covers? And some pants for Jameson. I have lots of sewing books, and somewhere I have that DVD which will show me for the 20th time how to thread my sewing machine…

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Family Fun & Happy Easter

I have pictures in my queue for editing! We had a great weekend, visiting lots of extended family and enjoying Easter dinner. Friday night we visited my aunt and uncle, cousin Carrie and Brian and their daughters. So I was curious as to what exactly Jameson is in relation to their daughters, and my guess was second cousins once removed. Was I right?

According to Cousin Calculator, Jameson and my cousin’s daughters are actually only second cousins. Removed references a generation difference:

“When the word “removed” is used to describe a relationship, it indicates that the two people are from different generations.

The words “once removed” mean that there is a difference of one generation. For example, your father’s first cousin is your first cousin, once removed. This is because your father’s first cousin is one generation younger than your grandparents and you are two generations younger than your grandparents. This one-generation difference equals “once removed.”  The one-generation difference has nothing to do with age, but rather with descendance from the same person.

Twice removed means that there is a two-generation difference. You are two generations younger than a first cousin of your grandmother, so you and your grandmother’s first cousin are first cousins, twice removed.”

Therefore, my relationship to my cousin’s daughters is that we are first cousins, once removed.

Jameson sat in a borrowed high chair for the first time; not to eat, but just to sit with us as we ate salmon marinated in a honey and balsamic vinegar (plus a few other ingredients but we didn’t see the recipe). The fish was baked and was a little sweet. Very good. I forgot my camera though! I was very disappointed. They took a few photos though, I will have to see if I can get a hold of them.

On Saturday, we drove about 2 hrs and 45 min, Jameson’s longest car ride. He slept the entire time! We were so excited to see Brian’s grandmother in good spirits, talking and reaching out to hold Jameson. It is the best we have seen her in several years. We have some wonderful photos of Jameson and his great grandmother. I couldn’t help but be a bit of paparazzi, simply thinking that if my grandmother were still around, I would want a thousand photos of him and her together. We never know how much time we’ll have.

Sunday, I dressed Jameson in his Easter finest, and Brian was super pumped dressed to match him. We took some family photos, of which I only have one right now, but I have some great outtakes which I’ll be posting to flickr soon. We managed to get Sasha in the photo nicely, I think the only photo we have of all of us together, in focus (since she likes to move so much, of course!).

I don’t know if I have mentioned, but poor Sasha has been to the vet a lot recently! After the infection in her leg, she then got a hematoma on her ear, which I think is fairly common for dogs (could have been caused by her scratching her ear). We have opted not to do surgery on it though because of her older age and because antibiotics would be harmful to her already compromised liver. So it’s a big pocket of blood on her ear, but apparently smaller as far as hematomas go, and we’re just waiting for it to heal on its on. On top of that, she started limping again on Sunday so we have confined her again to the first floor. Brian had to sleep downstairs that first night but she’ll learn quickly again. We’re waiting a few days before going to the vet again; thus far, the limp doesn’t seem to be getting worse and actually seemed slightly better, we shall see.

Of course, the biggest, best news I have saved for last! On Sunday, Jameson rolled over, belly to back! I have yet to see it, and we don’t have it on video yet, but when we do I will be posting it (we have probably 20 minutes now from various 5 minute attempts of tummy time to get this rolling over on video, haha). His first roll was on Sunday morning while I slept in: Brian turned around while Jameson was on his belly and when he turned back, Jameson was happily on his back. He did it again later while Brian’s parents and sister were over for Easter dinner. None of us but Brian saw it though. For second I thought he’d do it once more after we put him back on his belly because he tipped himself but then he stopped.

Speaking of video, we have a lot of video captured on our video camera (as opposed to my camera phone which I used in his early days). However, we haven’t edited any of it. Brian’s been talking about exploring iMovie on our first ever Mac computer, but hasn’t had a chance yet. It won’t be long before I steal his thunder though and do it myself, haha.

This weekend is my birthday (and I will finally be on the later half of my 20’s), and Brian and I are having Brian’s sister Melissa babysit for us while we go out to dinner at a fondue place. I love going there because it’s always what I like to call a “slow” meal. Since Brian and I are very quick eaters, its always nice to go somewhere that forces us to slow down and chat a little. Melissa is excited because since Brian’s parents are out of town there’s no “competition” for Jameson’s attention. And a great time will be had by all!

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Everybody’s Working for the Weekend

TGIF!

This week went by fairly quickly though actually. Hopefully soon I’ll be able to share some fun news, I am crossing my fingers and toes.

Last Saturday, Jameson visited with his friend Jonathan again. Jonathan is getting so big; he’s also a very hungry little boy! He had 8 oz of formula/milk just while we visited that evening! Meanwhile, Jameson’s pretty casual about his eating (until he gets really hungry like at night). Oh, you would like to feed me now?  Okay, I’m game.

Lisa has to go back to work soon, and I know that’s rough, so we definitely wanted to have a fun night with them before their routine changes again. I think sometimes that’s the hardest part. Not really leaving them (because sometimes it’s nice to leave them, really), but it’s just changing up the routine.

And on Monday we finally got to visit with Carrie and Matt and Jameson’s new friend, Nicholas. Nicholas is 2 months old but very alert. Him and Jameson had a little staring contest, it was funny to see them so aware of each other.

This week was also exciting for Jameson; he got to go in the exersaucer at daycare! The exersaucer is the round toy-filled fun standing seat. It helps them practice putting weight on their legs while being surrounded by super fun toys. So Brian put together our exersaucer at home and put a blanket underneath because even at the lowest setting he wasn’t quite touching the ground. Jameson immediately started reaching for the toys. I have a couple photos to post soon.

I also want to share my new favorite site, Pinterest.com. It’s like a bookmark in that you save sites you visit, but it’s all about the images. So I have some new inspiration boards, particularly for our basement which will eventually finish off, and also for Jameson’s first birthday party (it’s never too soon!)

Tonight we’re seeing Jameson’s great Aunt Carol and cousins. It will be a fun visit! And tomorrow we’ll be doing our longest drive with him yet, to visit his great grandma and more aunts and cousins! It will be a fun filled Easter weekend for him, full of family and up to 6 month clothing (since I finally washed it all haha). And maybe he’ll sleep through the night again? He did last night! but not earlier this week, so maybe it’s wishful thinking.

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Four Generations

On Sunday, we visited Brian’s grandpa Thomas in the nursing home for his 90th birthday. It was very nice– we got a very nice photos of all 4 Thomas’s! Brian’s dad was excited to get everyone in one photo.

It was nice to have an opportunity to see Brian’s cousin Gabrielle, her son Griffin, and his uncle Mike. There were also two cousins of Brian’s dad, Bob and Carol, who I got to meet. Jameson’s great grandpa enjoyed having everyone there! Jameson was very well behaved and took his bottle so well!

This week Jameson and I went to the grocery store for the first time! It was our first errand out alone. It was uneventful save that I had to go to the bathroom myself and was at a loss as to what to do when you have a full cart of groceries plus a baby and need to use the restroom. I barely made it home to the bathroom, haha!

We have also been doing tummy time more this week, and I have taken a few videos of him, one where he looks like he’s trying to eat the mat, it’s hilarious.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODsKhSK6FYU]

Today Jameson turns 4 weeks old, but I am not taking 4 week pictures, because I will be taking one month picture this Sunday. I can’t believe he’s already almost one month old. He is such a good baby, I can’t believe how lucky we are. Most of the time, he only gets up once in the night, though last night he got up twice. I’ve been watching Battlestar Galactica on Netflix to occupy the night feedings, I am on season 3 already. I can tell he’s getting a little bigger too, I think he is fuller in the face and hands. I finally got the cute naked baby photos I’ve been wanting to get for some time yesterday. It’s difficult with a little boy but I was able to get nice ones yesterday after his bath.

That’s all for now since he’s getting a little fussy!

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Happy Birthday Jameson Charles Thomas!

Jameson was born on Dec. 16, 2010 at 10:06 pm, weighing 5 lb 13.5 oz and 19 3/4″ long.

On Tuesday, we went in for our follow up appointment with ultrasound to check the fluid levels. We were at a 5.8 fluid level, which is borderline being too low. The doctor recommended induction, and scheduled it for the very next day at 4pm! I finished up work for my last day and Brian and I both tried to relax a bit on Wednesday morning, though I did have Brian do a little housework in preparation for baby’s arrival.

We didn’t really know what to expect for induction; I had read that induction can mean many things, including using hormones and pitocin to start contractions. On Tuesday, I was about 1 cm dilated, which was better than the previous week with no activity, but apparently that is still not enough to start right on pitocin, so when we arrived I was allowed to have dinner and then the hormone was inserted for 12 hours. Brian and I were not expecting such a long wait! The next morning I was only at 2 cm but I was allowed to have cheerios, and then they started me on the pitocin. I began having mild cramping contractions, but really didn’t feel anything until they finally broke my water at 4 cm. Less than a minute after that, I had severe painful contractions. I did attempt for a little bit to go natural, and used pain killers and breathing for about an hour and a half to manage the pain. Then I decided to go ahead and get the epidural, for which I am very thankful!

After that, things moved very quickly. I went from 5 cm to 9 cm in an hour. Brian came back with his dinner, expecting we would have a long wait still ahead of us, and the nurse told him he better get my dinner ready too! Then it was time to push, and Brian helped hold my legs; it was great to be able to have him involved and helping during my labor! After about 1 1/2 hours of pushing, baby boy Thomas was born and Brian got to cut the cord!

Brian and I were torn between Brendan and Jameson as the first name for our son. However, after seeing him we both decided that Jameson was definitely his name. His middle name is Charles after Brian’s grandfather. They took his blood sugar level, which was a great 77, and his apgar score was also good, about an 8. I shook for a little while after his birth, which was interesting. I enjoyed dinner and then we went to the recovery room.

Thankfully, we did not have to have a roommate during our stay. Since I had already been in the hospital so long, I was ready to come home right away. The nurses were very kind and helpful, giving tips for breastfeeding and swaddling. The hospital food was great for me, though Brian did not enjoy his cafeteria food as much!

I went home on Saturday and Brian’s parents brought over lasagna dinner! The proud grandparents waited in the hospital for his birth and are so excited about their first grandchild!

Tomorrow night, Jameson will be one week old! The past week has been amazing (and tiring). I am pretty sure I must still have some great hormones running through my system because I am running on little sleep. Brian has been great staying up with me almost all the time while we got through nursing together and my milk coming in. Everything has been a learning experience, and it’s been great having my mom around since we got home from the hospital. She has helped us keep up on our laundry and vacuuming and of course helping watch Jameson, and enjoying holding him.

We did get Jameson circumcised, and today finally we stopping putting Vaseline on it, it is healing well. The past few days have been difficult changing him with just one person while we keep his legs away from his body and use warm washcloths around the circumcision. The belly button has been tough to work around too as we have to be careful while diapering him!

His first outing was to the doctor’s office on Monday, 12/20. He was 5 lb 9 oz, which is what he was when leaving the hospital, so we stopped his losing weight fairly quickly. When we went again today, he was back up to his birth weight already! He gained weight twice as fast as the doctor usually expects. We had been on a fairly strict schedule of feeding him every 3 hours, with no more than a single 5 hour stretch between feedings. While he usually stuck to the schedule himself, we did have to wake him up sometimes. After this most recent visit, we are going on an “on demand” feeding schedule. It will be interesting to see what kind of routine he has. So far today he has been awake a lot because we had visitors!

First bath (sponge bath anyway), 12/20

We had visitors on Sunday from my family; my dad, Tyler and Holly came to visit with Jameson for a day. Today, my Aunt Carol stopped by to see him.

Jameson has so many facial expressions. He does smile some, a reflex right now, but hopefully soon it will be because he’s looking at his parents! So far he seems pretty content with sleeping, eating and peeing a lot! I am excited to watch him grow. See more pictures of Jameson!

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Good Times & Sad Times

Brian’s 30th birthday was last weekend; it was a bit anticlimatic but I think he enjoyed it. Saturday he spent with JP working on putting new counter tops in the kitchen (which is still not quite done). I cleaned and did laundry, which was good. The weekend was just perfect for that. Sunday evening we spent at his parents house. They got Brian a super nice chair from Ikea and his sister got him a gift card to get some bike stuff.

Brian opened his gifts from me on his actual birthday on Monday; I got him a new camera (not a DSLR, but a fancy point and shoot that’s really thin). I think he’s pretty pumped. I also got him a big 6 window picture frame and letters from alphabet photography which is basically like 4 x 6 photos of shapes in our everyday world that look like letters. I spelled out our (or right now, his) last name. It was spelled out with a faucet, ladder, dandilion fuzz, hanging sheet, and I can’t remember the “A”, and a picnic bench arm for the S. Brian couldn’t figure it out at first, but he thought it was pretty cool. I had to get him something that he wouldn’t know about since the camera was a given; he had to tell me what he wanted.

I made him dinner, which was super impressive for me. I made cucumber salad which chilled most of the day, and then I improvised one of the recipes (it seemed too small; and Brian doesn’t like warm cherry tomatoes much so I switched it with asparagus). The dinner was (whole wheat) pasta combined with chicken (one of the few times I’ve ever cooked meat!), asparagus, mushrooms, onion, fresh oregano and basil with a light white wine and chicken broth sauce. Parmesan cheese on top. Then I made peanut butter cookies with honey for dessert. Yeah, it was impressive 🙂

While I was making dinner/cookies, my mom called once and texted. Turns out my grandpa passed away that afternoon. This was both expected and unexpected… he hasn’t been in good health and has had a lot of trouble taking care of himself for the past year. But he never had to be in a nursing home which he really didn’t want, and he didn’t spend time in a hospital which I’m sure he didn’t want either. I never figured on him even being able to come to the wedding even if he was still with us. So it’s tough.

Good times and sad times. 🙁

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