Strawberry Ice Cream and The Things People Say

I recently bought an ice cream maker.  It is a Cuisinart model that as far as I can tell, is only sold at places like Sam's Club.  For $40 I couldn't resist, and so far I've been very happy with it.  I've also made peach frozen yogurt with it, which was delicious.  The recipe for that and this strawberry ice cream (my favorite so far) came from the recipe book that came with the ice cream maker.  Here's the recipe if you care to try it yourself:

Fresh Strawberry Ice Cream
Makes 10 1/2 cup servings
2 cups fresh ripe strawberries, stemmed and sliced
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 cup sugar, divided
1 cup whole milk, well chilled
2 cups heavy cream, well chilled
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

• In a small bowl, combine the strawberries and lemon juice with 1/2 cup of the sugar.  Allow berries to macerate in the juices for two hours.
• Strain the strawberries, reserving the juices.  Mash or puree half the berries.
• In a medium mixing bowl, use a hand mixer on low speed to combine the milk and remaining sugar until the sugar is dissolved, about 1-2 minutes.  Stir in the heavy cream, reserved strawberry juice, mashed berries and vanilla.
• Turn on the ice cream maker and pour the mixture into the freezer bowl and let mix until thickened, about 25 minutes.  About 5 minutes before mixing is complete, add the reserved sliced strawberries and allow to mix in completely.  Ice cream made like this will be like soft serve when finished, so put it in the freezer if you like it firmer.  Substitute fresh peaches for peach ice cream.

On to the things people say....I took Adeline to Barnes & Noble today.  A cute little girl who couldn't have been more than 2 toddled up to Addy's stroller and smiled and waved at her.  The little girl's grandmother (I assume) comes along behind her and says "Oh are you looking at the little boy?"  Huh?  Now this isn't the first time someone has called her a little boy, and it doesn't bother me but I do wonder what makes people decide that she's a boy.  Especially when she's wearing this:

Note the white lace.  And her cute little dress has flowers embroidered around the neck and flower shaped buttons.  Not that I expect people to notice such small details, however it didn't occur to me that she might be mistaken for a boy in this outfit.  Oh well.  The last time someone thought she was a boy, she was wearing something pink.  I don't even bother to correct them anymore unless they ask me what "his" name is ;)  My sister-in-law said that when my niece was a baby, she could be decked out in pink with frills and bows in her hair and people would still tell her what a cute little boy she had.

8 months old

My Sweet Baby Girl,

It seems like you are growing up in a flash!  I can hardly believe you are eight months old.  I know I probably say that every month, but every month it's true.  Before I know it you will be a year old, walking, talking and doing all kinds of new things.  I am so proud of you.  You say Mama and Dada now like you understand what it means.  You also say it just because and have entire conversations where all the words are Mama and Dada.  You sometimes wave bye bye and you are losing your stranger anxiety for the most part.  You warm up to people more quickly - female people anyway.  You are still afraid of strange men, but I think that is a good thing.  Recently you have been getting very excited to see Daddy when he comes home from work and it is so cute.  You smile so big and throw your arms up for him to pick you up.  Today you practically jumped up and down in your walker when Daddy came through the door.  You are working on getting up on your hands and knees and rocking back and forth.  I'm sure you will be crawling before we know it.  Right now you only know how to go in reverse in your walker and you scoot yourself backwards on your butt when you are sitting on the floor.  I'm sure you will figure out how to move forward soon.  I love you Sweet Girl!

Beach Baby

Last week we decided to take a vacation, kind of a spur of the moment thing.  We wanted to take Addy to the beach and visit some family.  First we headed over to North Carolina to see my family for a few days, and then continued on to Kiawah Island, SC for a few more days.  It was good to see everyone and the Grandmas thoroughly enjoyed spending time with us and Addy.  Watching her with my Mom and Grandma was a lot of fun.  She and my Grandma are so much alike in personality and a couple times we have taken pictures of them with the same look on their faces. It's all in the eyes and raised eyebrows.

Two peas in a pod.

Flashback!  This picture, taken in January is when we first noticed their similar look.  So cute!  

This trip was the first time Addy has really been able to go in the ocean or get down in the sand.  It was very entertaining for us and she loved it.  She was kind of afraid of the water at first but as long as I held her close in my arms and kind of dipped down in the water with her whenever a wave came in, she loved it.

Ready for the beach.

Little toes in the water...

When you're a princess,  Daddy builds your sandcastles for you :)

Sandy face.

Baby in a Basket

I needed something cute to look at while I folded laundry, so I put her in the basket.  Of course she thought it was great fun.

7 months

I can't believe Adeline is seven months old already (as of the 21st, I am so behind!)...and getting more precious by the minute.  She says Mamama now and seems to understand what it means.  She also says Dadada but I don't think she connects it with Daddy yet.  I got a kick out of watching her with her Daddy yesterday.  Every time she said "Dadada" he would say "What?" and she would look surprised.  She cut her two bottom front teeth last week.  There was one day that she was really fussy and when she was hurting and distressed she would hold her arms up to be picked up (another first) and cry "MAMAMAMA!"  It was so pitiful and cute.  Then she proceeded to bite my chin, which is how I discovered her first tooth!  She wants to get her hands on anything Mommy or Daddy has.  She is sure that my computer is a fabulous toy since I play with it so much.  We found out completely by accident that she loves the theme song/intro from Star Trek: The Next Generation.  We don't have the TV on much and she never pays attention to it, except one day she was sitting there when the show came on and she bobbed around to the song.  Now every time we play it for her she gets a big smile on her face and sometimes she even laughs.  I don't know why she likes it so much, but it is hilarious!  She begs Daddy for a sip of whatever he is drinking by leaning towards him, staring at his cup and smacking her lips.  She loves getting out of the house and riding around in her stroller at the mall or anywhere there is shopping to be done.  She pays attention to everything like she is trying to figure it all out.  I took her to the post office with me last week and she stared intently at the lady behind the counter and watched everything she did, to the point that another woman working there noticed and commented on it.  I love you sweet girl!

Sassy Addy

Mother's Day, Turning 30 and Miscellaneous Cuteness

I had a wonderful weekend.  On Saturday I turned 30.  I think it was my best birthday so far.  My Mom came to visit for the weekend, and my Grandma stopped by for a little while too.  On my birthday Mama cooked a delicious lunch for us and had a beautiful and very tasty chocolate cake for me.  My wonderful husband took me out to dinner on Saturday night, just the two of us, for the first time in a long time.  On Sunday, we spent time together as a family, and Mama and I did a little shopping together.  I am very blessed to have such a wonderful family and this precious little girl for my first Mother's Day.  My husband bought me flowers for Mother's Day, from him and Addy of course.  He says it was her idea.  For my birthday he got me a new laptop to replace my 5-year old one that was on its last leg.  I am a lucky woman!

Puppy Dog

Addy's Grandpa (my Dad) sent her a stuffed beagle puppy.  This was her reaction when I took it out of the box and gave it to her.  She loves it!  We had two different beagles when I was growing up, both named Poochie.  What can I say, we are not very original with our pet names in my family and we like to reuse them!  Poochie II is 13 years old now and still living with my Dad.  I got Poochie when I was 17 and he was a very cute 5 week old puppy.  It was a lot like taking care of a baby actually. Except the potty training started immediately and I'm pretty sure he was weaned on the day I took him home.  I swaddled him so I could put him down in his little crate at night and he wouldn't cry.  Don't laugh, it works for puppies too!  So now Addy has a little pet substitute until she is old enough for the real thing :)  It was funny to watch her interact with her stuffed puppy.

When she started biting it, I was definitely glad we are waiting for the real thing until she is older!