The Wallisers

We had a pretty busy long weekend… but I really can’t complain a bit! Saturday, we went to the family reunion on my Mom’s side of the family… saw a bunch of people that I couldn’t remember… and a few that I did. Nora had a blast dancing while Papa and Uncle Jerry played music with a few others. This kid is a real big fan of music! I LOVE IT!

Sunday, we got up and went to the cemetery where Jeremy’s Mom’s side of the family meets up each July 4th to remember his Grandmother. Then a big family breakfast at Cracker Barrel. We dropped the girls off at Grandma & Grandpa’s house for naps and some swimming while Jeremy and I came back here to get the yard mowed and the house cleaned up. Everyone was coming over to our house for fireworks so we wanted to make sure it was all ready. When we were done we headed back over to Jeremy’s parents house and cooked some steaks and went swimming until it was time to head over here and get everything set up for fireworks.

We ended up with a pretty decent crowd… in addition to Jeremy’s parents, sister & her husband, and his Aunt and cousin… my parents made it over too, with a cameo appearance by Aunt Whit and her new boyfriend… who soon left for bigger and better fireworks (apparently).

Nora LOVED the fireworks! We were afraid that she’d be scared… but she really seemed to enjoy them. We started off with some sparklers and she thought those were pretty cool. She really liked the little snap pop things but couldn’t throw them hard enough… so she’d stomp on them on the ground (which was pretty awesome). Sarah hung out with us for a little bit but she was getting pretty tired so Grandma Kathy gave her a bath and put her to bed for us (Thanks!!).

Oh, and we can’t forget my super awesome cherry chocolate ice cream that I made! – see previous post.

We started in on the fireworks in the backyard and had a blast. Nora kept hopping from one lap to another to watch the show… which was pretty cool because everyone got to enjoy them with her. Surprisingly, the kid stayed up till almost 10!! Before Grandma Judy (& Grandpa Mark) left, she read her a story and Nora was pointing towards her bed wanting to be laid down – what a sleepy girl!

Unfortunately, the late night didn’t make her want to sleep in any longer – both the girls were up at 6:00 am!! Oh well.

Today, we decided we’d make a trip to the bookstore to get a few new story books. Mom & Dad are really tired of the same old selection of stories at bedtime so it was kind of a treat for us all. Grandma Judy met us up there and hung out with us while we looked for books, browsed another store or so, and had lunch at Red Robin. By the time we got these girls back in the car it didn’t take long and they were both asleep!

Anyway, it was nice having an extra day off and getting to spend the day with the whole family. Back to work tomorrow…

She’s been doing this a few days now really good. But instead of just on her hands and knees, it’s both hands… one foot, and one knee Hey, it works though

Trying something new today… finally attempting to make homemade ice cream again in my fancy ice cream maker that my Mother-in-Law bought me. OK, technically it’s the 2nd batch… but the first (mint chocolate chip) didn’t turn out very good.

I asked Jeremy what flavor he wanted and he mentioned cherry… so I found this Cherry-Chocolate ice cream recipe and decided to try it… It’s the Batch Family Mountain Cherry Choconut Ice Cream recipe that’s listed… minus the almonds cause I wanted to make it baby-friendly. It’s mixing in the ice cream maker now… fingers crossed.

…more later…

OK, I’m back with a little teaser… (hehe)… yeah, I’m mean like that…

That, my friend, is some really yummy ice cream!
I should have paid a little more attention to how far up I was filling the freezer container on the ice cream maker, because I think I put a little too much in… it expands as it freezes (of course) and so it kind of expanded out of the container and made a big mess in the kitchen. But then again… I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t make a mess of some sort when cooking/making something.

Anyway, after about 30 minutes of freezing the ice cream it was looking pretty good – about soft serve consistency – and that’s when you are supposed to take it out. You can either eat it just like that or you can transfer it to an air tight container and freeze it to a harder consistency. Well, this batch is for tonight so it’s going to be a bit harder… and that’s a good thing.

Of course, I did have to try a bite… and I must say that it’s pretty awesome!! There’s not really as much chocolate in it as I’d like usually, but the cherries are perfect and it is just right for tonight!! I might try to compensate for the not so much chocolate in it by shaving a few extra pieces on top!! I’ll get a better photo tonight when it’s all dished out to make you drool even more!!

I know… once again, it’s been forever since I’ve posted anything. No one ever reads this anyway so I suppose it doesn’t really matter too much.

Here’s a super cute video that Mom took today of Little Miss Nora! She’s on the phone with her Aunt Whit…

I’ll be back with other updates later…

I’m horrible… I NEVER have time to get anything posted here anymore. It sucks. Maybe one day soon I’ll actually get to update again. I’ve got tons of photos that need to go on here, stories, etc. We’ll see what happens. Forgive me for now…