Monday Nights - Family BBQ Pool Night!

I have always thought of the family things we would do when we have kids.  I have always been a fan of Family Game Night where we get pizza a play board games all night.  This reminds me of the Saturdays when I was a little.  My dad and I would stay up really late playing Monopoly (funny how when your a kid 11pm seems soooooooo late.)   Chinese Take-out and Nextflix Night.  I mean who doesn't love Chinese and a movie?  Picnic in the Park... (you have to ask? Hello... Cheese and Wine?! - and not for the kids).  I have even added one to my list (after our holiday celebrations with the Nelson-Montet family)... The Backyard Drive-In.

Now I know it's a little early to pull out the board games.  And Ainsley's Netflix attention span consists of the opening credits of Psych and then she is off to something else.  So we will have to hold off on those two "Nights" for a while.  

But I never dreamed that this past Memorial Day Monday we would start a new family tradition.  We don't get a lot of "Family Days" to start with.  I mean a restaurant manager and an actor/ teacher at a theater don't exactly scream 9-5 jobs.  So I was excited that we had Memorial Day off together. A simple wish to grill some hot dogs and go swimming... At first I thought it was impossible.  That is one of the downfalls of living in a high-rise apartment - No Grilling!  But after not wanting to go without the taste of a grilled hot dog I came up with a pretty good substitute... our George Foreman Grill.  So I grilled up the hot dogs, tossed the potato salad and baked beans in my lovely Whole Foods bag, grabbed a few beers, and voila!  I had a BBQ dinner to go. 

We all changed into our bathing suits and headed down to the 7th Floor.  There we had our dinner as the sun was starting to descend into the west or what I like to say "It's sinking into Kendell".  And then afterwards we went swimming.  

Ainsley loves the pool and I love taking her to go swimming.  Partly because once we get back home I give her a bath and then she is out for the night.    

I was expecting to enjoy ourselves and have a wonderful Memorial Day 7th Floor BBQ.  What I was not expecting... was it to be something that we enjoyed so much that since then we have done it 3 more times (not just on Mondays).  So now we have a new family night that I don't have to wait till Ainsley is old enough to not eat the houses and hotels in Monopoly... or have to pause the movie every 10 minutes to rewind to find out what we missed because the baby is excited talking to the cats.  No... this is something we can do now... and enjoy being a family!       

Play Date with Jack (and Xena)

Today we went up to Ft. Lauderdale to visit with Alisha and Jack. We started out our day at Ikea for lunch and shopping for fabric. After our 3 hour shopping trip (can you really do Ikea in less time? I think not) we headed to Jack's house to play. Alisha got a video of the kids playing with their dog Xena.

(Hopefully this will work since I am sending this attachment over email and not loading up via the blog.)

Coming Soon! Ainsley's 1st Birthday!!!!

Its' hard to believe that she is almost a year old!  And that we are now planning her Birthday Party!  How this past year has flown.  It feels like yesterday that I was still waddling around Summer Camp. 

Anyway.... If you already don't know... I absolutely love Shutterfly!  Since having Ainsley I have become addicted to ordering copies of the photos I take, making books and announcements.  So when it came time to plan for her birthday I of course had to find an invitation. 

In addition to our "Hungry Little Caterpillar" invitations we will be sending the following invitations out to our close family and friends. 

Buggy Beauties Pink Birthday Invitation

Create the perfect card for Birthdays, Valentine's Day and more.

View the entire collection of cards.

A Tea Party for the Royal Wedding

In honor of William and Kate's Royal Wedding today I thought we would celebrate in English style.    As we watched the recaps of the Royal Wedding we had a Tea Party... Of course wearing pretty dresses and hats.

I wasn't planning on watching as much as I did.  But as I watched... the more I missed my grandmother.  My Grandmother would have loved today and it reminded me of the stories she would tell me (when I was a little girl) all about the Royal Family.  All she read were books on the Royal Family and Elizabeth Taylor.  And this became part of who she was.... And I so want to share with Ainsley who my Grandmother was.   

So I dressed her up in the dress Josie and Alex (our neighbors) gave her for Easter and we had a party.    
 

I then decided her hat was not a fascinating as those at the wedding so I went into my jewelry and grabbed some pearls and improvised to make her a fabulous and fantastic fascinator (sp?)!  

 

One of the shows we watched was Oprah.  She had a "Royal Party" today and one of her guest was a  Chef for the Queen and Princess Diana.  And he shared his recipe of a cake that he used to make for the Queens Tea.  This is also the recipe for Prince William's Grooms Cake. 

I just had to have it!  And I can't wait for my favorite baking friend, Leslie, to visit to make it!   

Chocolate Biscuit Cake

Recipe courtesy of Darren McGrady 

Oprah.com
April 28, 2011

Servings: Makes one 6-inch round cake (8 portions)
Ingredients

1/2 tsp. butter , for greasing
8 ounces Rich tea biscuits
4 ounces unsalted butter , softened
4 ounces granulated sugar
4 ounces dark chocolate , for the cake
1 egg
8 ounces dark chocolate , for coating
1 ounce chocolate , for decorating


Directions

To make cake:

Lightly grease a 6" x 2 1/2" cake ring and place on a tray on a sheet of parchment paper.  Break each of the biscuits into almond-size pieces by hand and set aside.  Cream the butter and sugar in a bowl until the mixture starts to lighten.  Melt the 4 ounces of dark chocolate and add to the butter mixture while constantly stirring.  Beat the egg into the mixture.  Fold in the biscuit pieces until they are all coated with the chocolate mixture.  Spoon the mixture into the prepared cake ring. Try to fill all of the gaps on the bottom of the ring because this will be the top when it is unmolded.  Chill the cake in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours.

To coat and decorate:

Remove the cake from the refrigerator and let it stand while you melt the 8 ounces of dark chocolate. Slide the ring off the cake and turn it upside down onto a cake wire. Pour the melted chocolate over the cake and smooth the top and sides using a palette knife.  Allow the chocolate to set at room temperature.  Carefully run a knife around the bottom of the cake where the chocolate has stuck to the cake wire and lift it onto a tea plate.  Melt the remaining 1 ounce of chocolate and use to decorate the top of the cake.


You know... with all the horrible things happening in the world these days... it was so nice to watch and celebrate with the world this wonderful day.  I know a lot of people said it seemed silly... but I prefer the chance (for at least one day) to pretend to be British and have a proper Tea Party with my little girl than try to explain about all the war and destruction going on in the world!   

Ainsley's Photos Session

Unlike my sister who gets professional photos of her kids every other month... I try to take my own photos.  I love dressing her up and having a photo session...  Unfortunatly my equipment consist of my iphone or our Panasonic Lumix digital camera.  So I don't always get a great clear shot.  So when our friend Mildres (who also watches Ainsley) asked if her husband could take some photos of her I said yes!

Randy got some really cute shots...  

Please feel free to check them out!  http://www.mirapics.com/p336539540