Downhere - Calmer of the Storm

Chocolate Truffles

8 oz. (225 grams) semisweet or bittersweet chocolate

3/4 cup whipping cream

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons alcohol (Cognac, brandy, Grand Marnier, kirsch, rum, bourbon, or Kahlua to name a few) (optional)

Place the chopped chocolate in a medium sized stainless steel bowl. Set aside. Heat the cream and butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil. Immediately pour the boiling cream over the chocolate and allow to stand for 5 minutes. Stir with a whisk until smooth. If desired, add the liqueur. Cover and place in the refrigerator until the truffle mixture is firm (this will take several hours or overnight).

Place your coatings for the truffles (cocoa, toasted coconut, chopped nuts) on a plate. Remove the truffle mixture from the refrigerator. With your hands, or else a melon baller or small spoon form the chocolate into round or mis-shaped bite-sized balls. Immediately roll the truffle in the coating and place on a parchment lined baking sheet or tray. Cover and place in the refrigerator until firm. Alternately, after forming the truffles, put them in the fridge to firm up, and then dip them in melted chocolate before returning them to the fridge to harden. Truffles can be refrigerated for a couple of weeks or else frozen for a couple of months. Bring to room temperature before serving.

revised from Joy of Baking.com

Time Flies

Where does the time go? Sometimes it seems like only a short while ago that Callum came into our lives.
As happy as I am to see him reach every stage and learn so much, there's still that selfish part of me that wants to keep him as my little chubby boy forever, so full of wonder and laughter! I can't help but be amazed at his development so far. He knows so many words, some of which I don't know how he knows! For instance, we were reading his "chicken book" and for some reason the mama hen had black and orange striped legs. He pointed to them and said "Tiger stripes!" He knows tigers, and he knows stripes, but he has this really neat ability to put two things together. It must be all those books we read to him, because he will take concepts from the books and apply them to his play.
He knows all his colours, and shapes including "legam" (parallelogram) "umbus" (rhombus) and "ockagone" (octagon), and can count to twelve! He's pretty good at following instructions, even a few at once (push down on the car, pull back, then let go!) I have asked him to ask daddy to get his pajamas on. He went into his bedroom, got his pajamas and brought them to Stu, asking him to put them on. Time to start potty training?
It's so fun to watch him play (now that he's doing that more by himself) all his characters have a high-pitched voice when they talk to each other, they all eat grass (carpet) including the tractor, and go to sleep (lays on their sides and snore). The other day the bunny was telling the tractor and horse that it was suppertime and then they would go and eat.
The imagination that boy has is astounding. There are things he does that I thought only older children would do. He crawls on all fours and pretends he's a cat, or a tiger, or hops and he's a frog. Once we were playing and he picked up something invisible and put it on my character, a tiger, who was sleeping. I asked him what it was, and he said it was a blanket.
He seems to understand so much, and it seems that we only have to tell him something once, and he gets it. He says "Coos me." when he burps. He knows concepts like up, down, big, little, etc. Seeing him put them all together in well-structured sentences is great. "Bird! Up there in the sky in the clouds!" "Where Daddy go? Daddy! Wh'are yooooou?" Me: "Daddy's at work." Him: "Daddy at work in a grass in a tractor!"
Trying so hard to make it work!

Running through laundry is fun!

Big shoes to fill...

What's that strange creature?

Pure boy, bumps, scrapes and all.

Hmmm....where did Callum go...

Playing with Daddy

"Helping" do dishes.

"Helping" make cookies.

C-note's Two!

My not-so-great attempt at making a car...afterwards I wished I could do it over!
Thanks everyone for coming even though it was pretty cold! C-note was really excited to have so many people over.

The wind actually blew the candle out. (Don't tell him that...)

Yum!

C's buddy.

There's never been that many children in there before!

He was very excited to get a card.

...then came the first present! He was extremely happy about this one. Tractors are his favorite! It never left his hands the rest of the day.

He was so spoiled with all his gifts!

"What, Mommy? Clothes? Yeah...sure...nice...."

Camping Pictures!

Playing with ZaksZach with his Zak creation!

Callum and "Gampa!"

Trying to catch Jeremy with the net

Going on a bike ride!

Waiting patiently...

...for Daddy's birthday cake!

Laundry on Labour Day

So Callum and I are hanging out outside and it's quiet. Really quiet. No trucks going in and out of the driveway. Only the occasional vehicle on the usually busy road. In fact, most of the time the only noise we can hear are the crickets in the tall grass in the ditch across the road. It was the same on Saturday. I hung out some laundry. No sound from the neighbours' yards. Probably camping or out on some other adventures. Stu is working on yet another holiday weekend. It's just him and Joel today and Saturday. Not that I am complaining, as we do need the money. Thanks for working so hard, Stu. ;) We'll just have to have a "holiday" during the school year. Callum and I have colds, anyway, so we wouldn't be up for much adventuring, although lil man is still his usual crazy self.
It's going to be strange going back to school after a year of mowing, preaching, and waiting. It's kind of been our joke that we're 30 and still in school. (We, as in Stu :) ) But it seems to be the best decision for now. Although it's a second choice, I am sure that a lot of good can come from it as well. It's just took me a while to accept that.
Which brings me to the reason why I haven't been blogging for so long. This summer has been tough, emotionally. It had gotten to the point where I became so disappointed, disillusioned, sad, frustrated, and discontent to the point of depression. Our situation made me, a normally patient person, impatient. I didn't feel like blogging, which was doing something joyful, with the emotional burden I had. I really had stop and examine my attitude, which had gotten pretty cynical, and inappropriate. Asking God for forgiveness was my first step, as well as praying that He would help me fight my ill feelings and adjust my attitude!
I still have my bad days now and then, but I have to keep delving into God's Word, and praying for strength, patience, and peace.
So, I have a lot of catching up to do. I have camping photos and videos to post as well as Callum's second birthday party, and plenty of other stuff in between! I'll get right to it. :)