Bad, Bad Blogger!

I have been horrible about blogging lately! Jesse has been home for awhile, so we've been staying pretty busy around the house and hanging out with friends.

Hunter is a crawling machine and is even pulling up to stand with the help of furniture and toys. It's amazing to me how much he was changed in the last two weeks! Hunter had his last "little bug" session at the The Little Gym yesterday. My mom came to join us and we had lots of fun. Hunter seemed to interact with the other babies more yesterday. He is going to be moving up a age group, to the "bird" class starting next Saturday. I think these classes have really helped him socially and physically.

We are driving over to Pullman (5 hour drive) to go to a wedding today. It's a good friend from college that is getting married, I'm so happy for her! Hunter is staying overnight with my parents. It'll be good for Jesse and I to get away for a night and have a little fun.

That's about all that is going on over here. Hopefully I will be better about blogging this week. :P

Rhubarb Cupcakes

Yummy! I made these today from the Martha Stewart's Cupcake book and they came out amazing! Thought I'd share the recipe:

Ingredients
Makes 16

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup sour cream, room temperature
3/4 pound rhubarb, stalks trimmed and cut into 1/4-inch dice (3 cups)
1 vanilla bean, halved lengthwise
1 cup water
Whipped Cream



Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter and 1 cup sugar until pale and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Beat in vanilla extract. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in two batches, alternating with the sour cream, and beating until combined after each. Stir in 2 cups diced rhubarb.

Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three- quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool completely before removing cupcakes. Cupcakes can be stored up to 3 days at room temperature in airtight containers; remove liners before topping.

To make rhubarb topping, use the tip of a paring knife to scrape vanilla-bean seeds into a saucepan, reserving pod for another use (such as vanilla sugar). Add the water and remaining 1 cup sugar, and bring to a simmer, stirring to dissolve sugar. Remove from heat, and stir in remaining 1 cup rhubarb. Let cool completely. Remove rhubarb with a slotted spoon, and reserve. Return liquid to a simmer, and cook until reduced by half, 5 to 8 minutes. Let cool slightly, then return rhubarb to syrup. Once cool, rhubarb can be refrigerated in syrup up to 1 week in an airtight container; bring to room temperature before using.

To finish, dollop a generous amount of whipped cream onto each cupcake, and top with rhubarb and some syrup. Serve immediately.

Twins vs. Mariners

So as many of you know... Jesse is an avid Minnesota Twins fan. So when the MLB schedules came out, he got tickets for 6 out of the 7 games when the Twins come to Seattle. The first series was this last Monday through Thursday.
They were all night games, so Hunter and I only went to the Monday and Thursday night games. We had such a good time at both games! Hunter got two balls and we had amazing seats.
I enjoyed watching Joe Mauer and Franklin Guiterrez up close ;)

Crawling

Hunter is officially crawling as of Monday! He had been getting on all four and rocking back and forth for a couple weeks, we knew he was close. His first time actually crawling was to get Henry. When he got to Henry, he celebrated by grabbing the dog and letting out a squeal. It was priceless!
Since then he's gotten more mobile and is actually been crawling all around the living room, mostly to get Henry's toys.