Christmas Pictures!

So we had some Christmas photos taken - not in a studio though because :
A. Not gonna pay money for pictures that
B. Nine times out of Ten look rigid and awkward and cheesy, especially since
C. We have friends who are awesome photographers who will do it for freeee :)

Aside from the two full-on hour-long photo sessions I personally did of Gemma, our amazing friend took a family photo shoot for us the other night as well. We got a lot of really cute shots! Don't worry, I'm actually not going to post a picture overload here! I really just want to share a picture from this year compared with a picture of us at Christmas time last year. It's so fun and crazy to see how we've changed, grown, shrunk, etc!

THIS YEAR - 2011:

LAST YEAR - 2010:

Happy 1st Birthday Gemma!!!

I've put this post off a little bit for 2 reasons. 1. We've been insanely busy the past few weeks! and 2. I'm still in denial that my sweet little baby is already a year old! 

Her official birthday was August 13th, and on that day, we were all stuck in the car, driving back from a wedding. Strapped into a carseat, facing backwards, is not the best way to spend your birthday. So, to make up for it, we threw her a super, amazing, fantastically awesome Safari Party this past weekend. 

Here's a few pictures of the preparations/decorations:

How cute are these napkins! Ordered from Celebration Express.

Yes, we made that sign! I did the letters, Rocky did the artwork :)

Check out the LOOT!! (In Safari print wrapping paper of course - Dollar Tree)

Alright, so, here's the thing. We had food. We had... lots. of. food. Unfortunately, I was so busy making/devouring it, that I forgot to take pictures of almost all of it. There were bbq brisket sandwiches, buffalo chicken dip, veggies, cheese&crackers, fruit kabobs, sausage dippers, shrimp rangoon cups (yea, they're friggin awesome... will post recipe soon), candy, sweet safari punch, chips&salsa... the list. goes. on. 

Oh, and some amazing cupcakes that I literally spent close to 4 hours baking/decorating! :)

This was all I managed to get pictures of:

The Cheese Lion. My brainchild, Rocky's handiwork!

So cute!! Worth the effort :)

Of course, no birthday post would be complete without sharing some pictures of Gemma destroying eating her 1st cupcake.

It all started so nicely...

 Then, the destruction began.

 She was lovin it!

Daddy gave her a little ice cream to wet her whistle :)

She was taking this whole cupcake thing very seriously... this is as close to a smile as I got out of her!

Note the placement of her chocolate-covered right hand!

All in all, we had such a fun party! First birthday parties can be silly, I know, since technically "they'll never remember it" but really, it's for the parents to celebrate an amazing year of life with their child! I am so, so, so grateful for my little girl. She is truly a blessing in our lives, and I feel thankful to God that I get to be her Mommy. I love you Gemmaroo!! 

Gemma's 6 Month Update... A Month Late

I truly cannot believe I am sitting here writing this 6 month update on Gemma... and it's a month late! That's right, Gemma will be 7 months old THIS Sunday!! Can you believe it? Ah, I am just so amazed at how quickly it's all going.

So, logistically speaking, she is now 16lbs, 2oz. 26 in. long. I don't remember what they said her head circumference is, but does anybody really get excited about that? And now for her list of favorite activities:

Sitting (and playing with anything within her reach)

Learning to crawl (more on this later, including her favorite baby yoga poses!)

Experimenting with big people food (also more on this later)

Teething (well, she doesn't actually enjoy this particular activity, but it's happening - we should see her two bottom teeth soon!)

Skyping with friends and family (though she freezes up a little and just kind of stares at the screen)

Nursing (as usual. she is in that lovely easily-distracted phase though - not so fun for Mom)

Babbling like crazy (including the ever-popular 'mama' and 'dada')

Trying to play exclusively with things that are not toys (ie, shoelaces, Mom's cell phone, the computer, anything plastic, paper bags, Mom's hair, etc. although she still has a deep love for mr. duckie)

Bathtime (mostly because of her deep love for mr. duckie)

Jumping in her jumperoo (video to come)

Reading (well, being read to - if we're going to be technical)

And in her spare time, she's picked up the piano:

Getting ready to compose her first masterpiece

It was beautiful. You should have heard it.

Wine and Cheese Night

For a few months now, Rocky and I have been loving watching travel shows and documentaries. We especially love the France shows, mostly because we are fascinated by the food culture there. We have seen and read that, in general, when it comes to mealtime in France, there is noooo rush. Dinner can last for several hours! Not to say that they are gorging themselves for hours on end, but rather, slowly sampling what the table has to offer, focusing much more on conversation than food. Given the conversations and delicious wines, it's no wonder why they take so long!

Obviously, our culture is very different, because let's face it, we don't usually have time to sit around eating for hours and hours. But maybe you could at least enjoy yourselves and stretch dinner out to about an hour. So Rocky and I thought we'd give this a whirl. Then we thought, well we don't necessarily want to serve food that is meant to be eaten very warm because then you just can't eat for an hour, it'll get cold! Our solution was to enjoy some lovely wine and cheese. A very popular option in France, and now in the Rhoades house! 

Alright, now I can hardly call this a "recipe" but it is certainly one of our favorites, so I had to share. And there are enough comments to make on it that I can make it into a food post. SO. Here goes.

Ingredients:

3-4 different types of cheese, amount varying on how many people are eating

1-2 different meats

1 French baguette

1 bottle of wine

balsamic vinegar

oil

Diriections:

If you like, pop your baguette into a very low oven (250 is fine) directly onto the rack. You'll just warm it as you prepare the rest. If you don't mind room temp bread, that's fine too!

Take your cheeses and cut them into small slices or cubes. Do the same with your meats. Arrange these onto a plate or nice looking cutting board.

Pop open your wine, pour it and let it breathe.

Pour some oil (usually olive oil) into a dipping saucer and then pour the balsamic vinegar into that.

Take the bread out (should be warm by now), and slice it up.

Bring it all to the table and you're ready to feast! Enjoy!

This was smoked salmon night. DELICIOUS!

Variations:

This is the best part of this meal. You could do it every single week and it could be different every single week. Play around with the cheeses. Have some different tasting options. Have some soft cheeses, like brie and gruyere. Have some hard cheeses like smoked gouda or smoked provolone. Have some buttery cheese like havarti. Nutty cheeses like cheddar. Seriously people, the possibilities are endless!!

The meats. We began these nights with your classic cured meats, like pepperoni and various different salamis. Most recently, we served a spicy smoked salmon. To die for. 

The wine. It truly is needless to say the possibilities are endless here, because that's obvious. This is allll about preference. But don't be afraid to try something new too, you may surprise yourself! I'd recommend a red wine though, because of the nature of the meal to last for awhile, drinking a room temp wine makes it hassle-free. But if you are truly a lover of chilled wine, just pop the bottle into a bucket of ice and bring it to the table with you! One last thing I'll say is if you're drinking a wine you've had before, and therefore now how strong it is, try your best to match your cheeses to the level of strength. I'm by no means an expert in this area. 

All I know is we once had a very strong tasting wine - delicious but strong - and it overpowered our cheeses, as in, we could barely taste them because of the effect the wine had on our tongues. It would be like eating a jalapeno and then a bite of, I don't know, baked potato afterwards. I'm telling you, that potato would be flavorless after the jalapeno got done wreaking havoc on your taste buds. The point I'm trying to make is, just match the wine to the cheese to the best of your ability!

Also, you can vary the dipping oil for your bread. Some people won't want to dip at all, but for us dip-aholics, you can play around here. Roast some garlic, and put it into the bottom of the saucer, then pour some olive oil over that. Can't tell you how delicious that is! Try a raspberry vinaigrette in place of balsamic. As always, try different things... have fun!

Lastly, you can definitely mix it up with the bread as well, although we haven't. We usually just stick to the classic French baguette. Why? It's the one stable thing about the meal. Oh, and it's DELICIOUS! 

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Apples? Oh yea. Apples and Pumpkins? Double oh yea.

Family life is a bit like a runny peach pie - not perfect but who's complaining?

-Robert Brault

Quite true. Family life isn't perfect, but let's be truthful here - how unbelievably boring would life be if it were perfect? Having said all that, I'd like to conclude that my family has had a pretty perfect October. (This is where I'd insert the appropriate emoticon of that gleaming, sarcastic smile one makes after making an absurd statement, if such an emoticon actually existed. I digress.) But seriously, it was an awesome month. Not really 'perfect', of course, but that's what makes it so fun. 

Before I get into all the highlights, let me first say this: I'm really bound and determined to update my blog more often. There's a few reasons for this.

Reason 1: I'm a chronic procrastinator, so I'll use this as therapy to work through this particular flaw.

Reason 2: Hopefully I won't be so overwhelmed when it comes time to update. When I wait too long, then there's soooo much to write that I end up a) becoming stressed about it and b) writing way too vaguely about life and leaving out potentially entertaining and awesome details!

Reason 3: Well, having more frequent posts is just more exciting for my hoards of avid readers! (Insert previously described emoticon.)

Why did you need to know all that? So that you can keep me honest, people! (Seriously, yell at me if it's been too long since the last post.)

So a few weeks ago, the Rhoades fam took an excursion to an apple orchard. It was Rocky's and, of course, Gemma's first time ever apple picking so this was a big deal!! Sadly, it was raining when we got there, even though the ever-reliable weather man had promised a clear afternoon. Nevertheless, we Rhoadeses are optimists and weren't about to let anything rain on our apple-picking parade... not even rain. So I put the Gemster in her Baby Bjorn and the two of us took shelter under my trusty Yankees umbrella that somebody gave me during the summer that I worked for the environment, as I like to call it. But THAT is a story for another time...

Anyway, Rocky and I had the greatest time picking apple off trees and chomping right into them to see which ones were worthy of taking home. (Don't worry Mom, it was an organic farm -- no pesticides, no one else touching them, no need to wash! haha) Oh, and for the record, this IS acceptable apple picking protocol at this orchard!

We had a great time, despite the rain. In fact, the only real disappointment of the rain was that I was unable to take pictures, due to fear of my camera getting wet. So, we went back two weeks later to snap some shots and buy more apples! (But mostly just to take pictures.)

So, being in the Fall spirit and with Halloween right around the corner, we of course had to go pick some pumpkins! Another first for the hubster and the Gemster. Had a super fun time again even though we got a whole bunch of those bramble things stuck to our pants and shoelaces. (Is that what they're called - brambles? Ya know, those spikey ball things?) Anyway, here are a few pictures for your viewing pleasure:

So then, we went home. And I got this great idea to take pictures of our little baby INSIDE the big pumpkin! Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time. But we hit a few bumps along the way... 

Bump 1: Gemma has a big booty. (Of course, it's mostly diaper, but still.)

Bump 2: We cut a bigger hole for her to fit through. But she was still a bit to tall for it.

Bump 3: Apparently, sitting inside a pumpkin is CHILD TORTURE. Seriously, this kid was not having it.

Anyway, here are the results of failed operation Take-Pictures-of-Gemma-In-A-Pumpkin:

Fortunately for moms and dads everywhere, crying pictures are still completely adorable. Pitiful, but adorable.

So we moved on from there to hopefully redeem ourselves with a successful carving experience. And succeed we did! I'm not sure if Rocky really enjoyed gutting the pumpkins but he did a great job nevertheless. He even helped me finish sorting out the seeds from the stringy stuff once he was done. Why wasn't I finished with the sorting, you ask? Well... Mom, Dad, if you're reading this, I'm sure you're already laughing. You see friends, sometimes in my life, usually while working on some sort of inane project like this, I happen to engage in what some might call perfectionist tendencies. In other words, I was not about to have even one tiny little piece of stringy stuff on my seeds! I digress... again.

So. We sorted them out, baked them up, and munched happily away on them as we carved big ole faces into our fresh, rotund little gourds. 

Yes, those are upside down flower pots. Seeing as I killed my plants long ago due to my extreme lack of a green thumb, I figured I could still put them to use somehow! 

By the way, I do indeed have some great pictures of Gemma on her first Halloween. Once I upload those pics, I'll post them!! Toodles till next time! :)