Our 3-Year Old

Our baby Benjamin it now fully into toddlerhood and turned 3-years old. Three weeks after having Levi, we celebrated Benjamin's birthday. I didn't do anything too fancy for his birthday and settled with brownies. He thoroughly enjoyed them since it ended up all over his face.

 We discovered that he loves puzzles...thanks Aunt Karen.

 Ben's looking forward to cooling off on the hot summer days with his sprinkler.

 Now that Ben is a big boy, he graduated to the big boy bed. Thanks to Aunt Melissa for the plush cars toy! Below is a video of Ben's reaction to his bed...sorry the first section is sideways.

Welcome Levi!

 We welcomed Levi into our family on March 27th. He is so adorable and precious to us!

 Above Levi is in his take-home outfit with the toy Benjamin gave him.

 At two weeks we were able to give Levi his first bath. He's not too fond of bath time.

Here is sleeping Levi. He looks like Benjamin except for the darker hair. It will be fun to watch the boys grow up together.

Peanut Butter Salted Caramel Tart

This is the first complicated recipe I tried while pregnant with Levi. I took it from Martha Stewart, but changed up a few things in the caramel sauce. If you love peanut butter and peanuts, this will tantalize the taste buds. It was a perfect mixture of peanuts, rich chocolate and salted caramel. I made this dessert for the Stuy Christmas party.

For the Chocolate Crust:

• 2 1/3 cup Oreo boxed crumbs
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• pinch salt
• 1 stick unsalted butter, melted

For the Caramel Sauce:

• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 4 tablespoon butter 
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 1/3 cup sour cream
• 1 cup roasted salted peanuts

For the Peanut Butter Mousse:

• 8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
• 1/2 cup power sugar
• Salt
• 1 1/4 cups smooth peanut butter
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup heavy cream

For the Chocolate Ganache:

• 7 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
• 1 cup heavy cream 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Make the chocolate crust: Combine cookie crumbs, granulated sugar, and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a bowl. Stir in butter. Press mixture into bottom and 2 1/2 inches up sides of 9-inch springform pan. Bake until dry and firm, 8 to 10 minutes. Let cool.
2. Make the caramel sauce: Heat brown sugar, butter and heavy cream in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Remove from heat, and add vanilla. Transfer to a bowl, and stir in creme fraiche. Refrigerate until cool but still pourable, about 45 minutes. Fold in peanuts.
3. Meanwhile, make the peanut butter mousse: Beat cream cheese and confectioners' sugar with a mixer on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy. Beat in 1/2 teaspoon salt. Add peanut butter and vanilla, and beat until combined. Whisk heavy cream in a separate bowl until medium-stiff peaks form. Fold one-third of the whipped cream into peanut butter mixture. Fold in remaining whipped cream in 2 additions.
4. Assemble the tart: Pour caramel sauce into cooled chocolate crust. Gently spread peanut butter mousse over caramel in an even layer, making sure they don't blend together. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
5. Make the chocolate ganache: Place chocolate in a small heatproof bowl. Bring cream to a simmer in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Pour cream over chocolate, and let stand for 1 minute. Whisk to combine. (Use immediately.)
6. Remove tart from refrigerator, and pour in ganache to cover surface. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Lunar Quilt

When it came time to make a quilt for baby Levi, I had hoped to make one like Benjamin's chick-chick quilt. However, I thought it best to not make them similar in the end. I found a cute moon and stars quilt, but couldn't find a pattern, so I created this one. I used minky left over from Benjamin's and then found fabric with stars and moons that would tie it all together. 

I machine appliqued the stars and moon....adding in detail of the eye and mouth of the moon. I like the machine quilted pattern of the stars and swirls.

The backing is also minky, which makes this a very soft and warm quilt. I hope the Levi will be able to enjoy his quilt as much as Benjamin had loved his chick-chicks.

Yellow Ruffle Quilt

I loved making this quilt. There were so many ruffles to make the columns of yellow ruching. This is a baby quilt I made for my cousin Donna's baby girl.

My machine quilter did an amazing job of getting it all quilted together. I told her I would probably never make another quilt like this again and her response was that she would probably not ever machine quilt one like this again. We both agreed!