525,600 Minutes

[Sung to the tune of Seasons of Love from the musical Rent]

525,600 minutes
525,000 moments held dear
525,600 minutes
How do you measure, measure one year?



In feedings, in laundry,


In nap times, in dirty diapers.


In inches, in pounds, in kisses, in hugs.



In 525,600 minutes - how do you measure a year of her life?
How about love?
How about love?
How about love?
Measure in love. A year full of love.


525,600 minutes.
525,000 moments of joy.
525,600 minutes - how can you measure one year with Helena Ann?

In tricks that she learned or in times that she smiled.

In food that she threw - oh, it's all been worthwhile!

Brownies

It was just too hard to wait until morning before eating a few!

When one has a hankering for chocolate, it's hard to find a better dessert than brownies. The final product is delicious but you don't have to wait for the timer to beep before you can enjoy your work! At least that's what we think over here, as our batter bowl is left with perhaps a bit more batter than necessary. Brownie batter - so good!

Of course, the above is only true if you make box brownies. Until now.

That's right - I have found the best homemade brownie recipe. Previous recipes have resulted in brownies that just aren't chocolatey enough or more often than not dry brownies. Why go to the work when one can use a box mix to make the best brownies?

Again, that was until now.

These brownies check all the right boxes:

• stay moist for days
  
• chocolatey
• include vegetables (w0w!)
• no need for frosting
• vegan (Now you'll know what to serve for dessert to your vegan friends!)
  

Chocolate Chip Zucchini Brownies


1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup cocoa
2 cups shredded zucchini
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 cup chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8 x 11 baking pan with cooking spray, set aside.

2. In a stand mixer, combine sugar, canola oil, and flour, combine until mixture resembles wet sand.

3.While mixing, on low, add cocoa, zucchini, vanilla extract, salt and baking soda. Mix until well combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.

4. Pour brownie batter into prepared pan and bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean and the brownies are set.

5. Cool on a wire rack. [Oops, I just leave them in the pan!] Cut brownies into squares and serve.

Recipe from Two Peas and Their Pod

Note: These are definitely more of a cakey brownie, so if you want the fudgy-ness of a box brownie, stick to the box. My days of box brownies are definitely not over, but now they won't be my only brownies! (And sorry, the batter isn't the best - but really, try these!)

Fun with my new computer

John & I gave ourselves a new computer for Christmas. I've been working on figuring out everything I can now do. Current project - video maker.




Wasn't the timing of the sample music on my computer perfect?

Kleenex

But Mom, they just kept coming!

Our Apartment Building on TV

The TV series The Firm is out, and to be honest, we are not all that wild about it. We watched the Pilot and after 20 minutes acknowledged that the only reason we were still watching was to see our old apartment building.

So, this week, while John did homework, I watched episode 2 and there was our apartment! Yay! If you care to watch it, our building (or the outside of it) is the set from 23:34 - 26:10 and 38:23 - 38:32. Not really that much time but well worth looking into if you`re curious.

A little caveat to go with that - the hallway they walk into from the elevator is exactly what ours looked like. But the apartment, well, it was recently renovated and looked nothing like ours did. Oh, and the sidewalk that Mitch and his brother walk on, we have walked on that same sidewalk so many times!

Perhaps this is as close to our 15 minutes of fame as we`ll ever be.

Two Parts

Part One: It's been a long 10 days. We're almost done with being sick. John is good, Helena is pretty good, and I have sinusitis. Medicine should start working in a few days...

But let me just say being sick is hard when you're a mom. You can rest every chance you get, but you're still not resting as much as you really should. It's just another one of those things you don't appreciate enough about your mom until you become one. Thanks Mom!


















Part Two: In those same ten days, Helena has become quite the hugger. She loves hugging her mom and her dad, and we pretty much melt in her arms every time. But she also loves hugging her stuffed animals and her dolls with a good close hug like a mom would give. Here's the evidence:


















See what I mean?



















Such a good hugger of her baby...




















until she decides to shake the baby while only holding onto her hat! She's got a ways to go in her motherhood training...

Sick

The happenings of a day when all three members of a family are sick: 

-the laundry grows exponentially

-the father tries to teach his 11-month old how to blow her own nose

-even though no one is eating much, the dishes pile up

-the vaporizer travels from room to room

-the daughter has moments of happiness and many many minutes of sadness

-the kitchen table gets lost beneath the mountain of Tylenol, Kleenex, papers, dirty bibs, and I don't even know what else

-the mother takes her daughter on a walk by making 20 laps of our floor's hallways

-the babe sleeps and we all rejoice

A Few Favorites

Taking a three-week vacation means LOTS of pictures and LOTS of good times.

One of my all-time favorite events of our trip was eating Burger King food at my grandmother's nursing home.  We visit her often when in Bemidji, but it's always in the dining room with lots of other residents.  One day my parents got lunch from BK and we ate together in the conference room.  I don't know how to describe it but that it just felt RIGHT.  There we were, all family, eating lunch together just like we have done many times before.  (I wish you hadn't had to work Rob!)

 

Helena likes dogs, but when the cat came out at Grandma's, she started making her excited grunting noise and chasing after him.  Bubba was great, in that every morning he'd walk by her numerous times, brushing his entire body up against hers. This picture isn't the greatest, but cousin Dillon brought his cats over, and Helena basically crawled up in his lap while trying to hug the kitty!

It was looking like it wasn't going to happen, but the annual sibling sledding adventure was finally made possible by four inches of snow!  Like usual, there were many races and a sled was broken.  But this time, we had a fifth participant, Chris - my sister's fiance! 

On January 1, 2012, we dedicated Helena in the same church with the same officiant as our wedding!  During the dedication, I got choked up as I was suddenly back at our wedding saying our vows.  Afterwards my dad said he also got choked up because he was remembering dedicating me. 

We have always missed the family birthday gatherings on John's side, but this time we didn't!  It was January birthdays this time, meaning Helena got her first taste of Uncle Ethan's favorite Twinkie Cake. She seemed to like it okay :)

During the celebration, the two oldest cousins asked if they could babysit for Helena.  I went downstairs to check on them 10 minutes later and the above pictures shows what I found. Sophia was reading a story to all the cousins, while Helena kept busy playing with the kitchen.  My heart practically burst with happiness when I saw all the cousins quietly and happily being together.  I hope there are many many more times like that.

Aren't they great?

  To no one's surprise, Helena was definitely the centre of attention all trip long!

Fun was had with each family member and with the friends that we saw.  While it's hard to be far away, in many ways it makes the time together sweeter.

Back in TO

We had a wonderful time visiting family, seeing friends, and enjoying warm weather.  The trip home was pretty easy - Helena did really well in the plane, and when she finally fell asleep, her parents conked out as well.  

But before we got on the plane, Helena found a friend hiding between the airport seat rows.  It didn't take Helena long to join her - but it was hard to get her out!