Katie Completes Alabama Tour

Katie wears "pig" hat thoughtfully provided by Grandpa Larry.

Katie and Christie have just completed an Alabama tour to see cousins and grandparents. Only one question remains; "when do we get our turn?"

Memorial Day Weekend

The majority of our little group (minus the Yankee Hayeses and the Hartmans) gathered at the Leavell lake house to celebrate the holiday weekend. A good time was had by all!

Christmas Katie

Here's a little video footage of Katie from Christmas with some fun background music!

A Belated Shout Out To All Our Moms

Expecting to expect

Hello Family!
Just to keep you updated, we have finished our adoption paperwork, and are waiting to be matched with a birthmother. It could take a week, or a year, so I'm not holding my breath this time. It'll happen when it should.

The paperwork and home visit (from the caseworker for the state of CT) has had me completely consumed for a few weeks, so it's good to have that part finished.

Katie calls the baby's room "BeeBee's Wooom". Three of her friends' moms just had babies, so she loves babies right now. When we see babies in public, she wants to "hold" them, "hug" them, and "kiss" them. She's in her snuggly phase.

In other news, the weather here is gorgeous, and we'll be swimming in our pool tonight, after Rob gets home. Katie is signed up for swim lessons in June. I am signed up for a painting class in July. It's one night a week for five weeks, and I CAN'T WAIT!!! I figure I'd better enjoy some of my hobbies before there's another infant in the house.

Anyway, just thought you all should know our progress. It's exciting to imagine having two children.

Love,
Christy

SPRING HAS SPRUNG!

Katie is still young enough not to chime "there's nothing to do"...

CAUTION!!! CAUTION CAUTION!!

Our very own Taylor Baumann turns 16-year-old today! His immediate plans call for taking his driving test tomorrow (Friday) and (hopefully) taking to the road without adult supervision. If you spot him, he will be easily recognized by his newly acquired Mohawk haircut.

News From The Frozen North

KATIE TRIES TO ESCAPE TO GRANDMA'S HOUSE!

Funny, ha ha.

Saw these buttons on a super-cool website, and thought some of the fam might appreciate or agree (right.) with them. Contact me for purchasing...

Southern Grand Daughters Minus One

Abby & Erin (sans shoes) after Easter lunch at Grandma's house. Sunday was in the mid-70's and we're having snow flurries today. Go figure...

At a world brewing convention in the States, the CEOs of various brewing organizations retired to the bar at the end of the first day of the conference.
Bruce, CEO of Fosters, shouted to the Barman: "In 'Strylya, we make the best bloody beer in the world, so pour me a bloody Fosters, mate."
Bob, CEO of Budweiser, calls out next: "In the States, we brew the finest beers of the world, and I make the king of them all, gimme a Bud."
Hans steps up next: "In Germany ve invented das beer, ferdamt. Give me ein Becks, ya ist der real King of beers, danke."
Christiaan says: "Barman, a Heineken, wees zo goed.
Paddy, CEO of Guinness, steps forward: "Barman, would ya give me a diet coke with ice and lemon? Tanks."
The others stare at him in stunned silence, amazement written all over their faces.
Eventually Bruce asks: "Are you not going to have a Guinness, Pat?"
Paddy replies "Well, if you fookin' pansies aren't drinkin', then neither am I!

Happy Easter!!!

Hey Everybody,

We'll miss you guys tomorrow. I hope you all have a wonderful holiday!

Love,

Christy

The Empire Strikes Back!!!

Nancy has upped the ante with Judy in the cute grandchildren race. Your cousins are (l-r) Kaitlin F. (17), Lindsey V. (15), Amanda F. (20), Madeline H. (14), Jordan H. (16), Kelsea F. (14), Meagan F. (22), Ashley V. (16), and Mark H. (19). A good looking Ward bunch.

This means we need a new group family picture to stay in the Final Four!

Milt

Party Favor

Debbie, what's the party favor comment all about? Was there some stomach virus passed around, or did you just have a 3 day hangover?

belated pictures

Hello!

I'm just catching up on my blog reading, and cracking up. This family is funny.

Here are some pictures of the two chefs in my house. Rob was kneading the dough, and saying, "turn, push, turn and push." Katie had her own tiny piece of dough, and she mimicked Rob's motion while she said, "toooo, pus!"

We were supposed to have an Easter egg hunt today at 10:00, but it got rained out. Hopefully, we'll get to do it on another day. Katie's been practicing, so she's ready.

In other big news, the potty training is coming along. I won't be gross with details, but lets just say we can add the #2 to Katie's successes! Whoo hooooooo! Having kids really makes me talk about weird stuff, right? Well, that's my life now, so deal with it! It's very exciting!

I sure miss all of you.

Love,

Christy

Terrapin = Big News!

Look who's on the front page of the AJC's Living section online today! What a cutie pie!!!

There's an entire gallery of pictures of the brewery if you can't make it to the tour on the 29th.

Read the article here.

Chefin' in the Nor'East

So here's the update....

I've made one really good loaf of sourdough, using a friend's starter. My starters seem to be getting going, and then they fizzle. Further reserach indicates that in this climate I will have better luck getting my starters started once the summer rolls around. Since summer only lasts 39 days here, I'm taking comfort that Fall is also supposedly a good time for the yeasties. More to come, as my compulsion will probably not allow me to wait out the spring before giving my original starter another go.

Further along the baking lines... I made a good chocolate souffle a while back. And this past weekend, I made a batch of bread using Gramma Ward's recipe. It turned out to be very good - and very plentiful. She was baking for a whole clan with that recipe. Katie helped, and Christy took some pictures which made it a slightly more sentimental culinary adventure. Still eating that batch of bread, though it's mostly through peanut butter toast at this point. What they say about getting hooked on homemade bread over store-bought is true.

I also made the Melissa recipe silken chicken tikka masala several weeks ago. Outrageously good. I made the naan with it. If I croak with that in my belly, that means there will also be a smile on my face.

We continue to try making some new stuff along with the old stand-bys. Most of the new ends up being inspired by something we've seen on Food Network, especially the Jamie at Home show. Gotta love the food porn.

Between playing Katie's favorite game - chase - and occasional trips to the gym, we're avoiding becoming as big as a house in our house. Let's hope we can keep the balance.

The Official Terrapin Grand Opening Invite

The Grand Opening of the new brewery is Saturday, March 29th...food, music, friends, and beer will abound. Come on out. I can get all family in free. Any body else, it's a whopping $8. Let me know who's attending (sorry, no poll. just call or email). Hope to see everyone there!!


And, yes, it's in Athens.

Poll

Since I don't have permissions to add a real poll on the blog, I'll use a post to start one.

What beer should Stephen make?
A. Asiago Ale (pick A, seriously)
B. Limburger Lager
C. Cheddar Barley Wine
D. Mozzarella Hefeweizen
E. Some whimpy non-cheese based beer

St. Patrick's Day

Looking forward to seeing you all there. Sorry for those of you who will miss this year. Please find a local pub, and car-bomb one for us.

A Funny Pic

Here's a funny little pic of our friend Thuan from the "Santa Pub Crawl" on the cover of Atlanta Illustrated. I thought it might be good for a laugh. As far as what's been gong on with us, not much to report. We've been trading back and forth with who will be out of town which week and who will care for the dogs. The brewery is up and running now and we started running tours about a month ago. I'm becoming quite the guide through the brewing process, and I'll be brewing my first homebrew (actually brewing it at the brewery because we're a little short on space here in our Penthouse Loft) in the next couple of weeks. I just need to actually read a little bit about what I'm gonna make (I'm thinking a Belgian Style Ale called a Saison). I'll keep you up to date on that as I move closer to actual fermentation. I'll be sans Wife at the St. Paddy's Day Party, but I will replace her that evening with an old friend. We're looking forward to it!! Anyone got extra space to stash dogs?

Current events

Spitzer, crime fighter extraordinaire, moral compass of the great state of state of New York, "linked to prostitution ring". First of all, does "linked to prostitution ring" just make a better news story than "accused of being a john"? Secondly, while faced with a potential indictment on federal charges, why does he come forth and apoalogize (which is basically an admission of guilt) but not go ahead and resign? Finally, how long before his wife seeks the Democratic nomination for president?

Sad Little Blog

This is a sad little blog. When Melissa had this idea, I thought it would be a great way for those of us who don't live directly up everybody else's butt to keep in touch with what's going on with those of us who do. Alas, we get no news unless we post news first, and that seems a little wrong. We miss you guys, and this our most efficient way to keep in touch. Please help a brotha' out and post something everyone once in a while. If not for the benefit of the rest of the family whom you see every 2 days, then do it for us. With Katie's vocbulary growing by leaps and bounds every day, I'm thinking that we should teach her only the names of family members who either visit us or post some news once in a while.

All of this blogging stuff is so new to me. I need to learn how to post pics and stuff. I promise to get better. We had a long week in the Hartman house. We spent three days in Orlando at Sea World and Universal and Islands of Adventure. Yes, I can go to Orlando and not go to Disney. Sea World had some great shows and we had to go two days to see them all. The weather was great and we had a blast. I will post some pics as soon as I load them on my laptop and then figure out out to post them on the blog. Nobody hold thier breath, I am not that technologically advanced. Hope to see all soon. Any news on St. Patty's day????? Loved to all, Deb

Hey, this is Abby just wated to say hi.

Spring Is Nearly Here!

Sunny, warming weather put us all in a Springtime mood. It brought out a cleaning spee at our house and a surprise visit from the Hayeses (Stephen & Mellisa). We all trouped down to the Leavell's to meet their new puppy, Doogan. He is cute as a, well, puppy.

In small but amusing family news:

Patrick fouled out during his final basketball game. Erin was called for a technical in her last match. I guess this shows where our family excels.

Melissa confessed that she was named for a character in the Little House on the Prairie books.

Mellisa's sister Christy was showing samples of her photos (including pictures of Katie) to a client and she was asked if Katie was available to model for a catalogue shoot. Proud parents should just remember how this worked out for Lindsey and Brittney.

Christy's (Hayes) post about Katie's learning progress reminded me of the three of us at Christmas Eve church services. Following a beautiful piano piece played by a nine year old girl, not to be outdone, Christy turned to me and said "Katie knows her animal sounds".

No word on Aric's progress on winning the trip to Washington in the school poster contest. He, Richard and Debbie are headed to Disney next week.

Gina managed to con (I mean encourage) five of her friends to paint her living and dinning rooms this weekend. Wow, I wished I has friends like that.

Steve & Mellisa invited 15 people to a Lost" party recently. All of this in 300 square feet. Will wonders never cease!

Well, so much for the news from Lake Wobegone...

Milt

PS - Steve has taught Judy how to blog so watch out!

Pictures for Stephen

Hey Stephen,

Here are just a few of the MANY pictures that were taken when my cousin was here. Katie is 6 months older than Gavin, and we were amazed to watch her with him. It was weird to see her as the big kid.

This week in Katie news: potty training (per her insistance) continues, and we're also making progress with the alphabet. As of bedtime tonight, she recognized B, E, T, and O. Yea! She's so not a baby anymore. I hate to sound cliche, but it really does fly by.

Love,

Christy

Super Bowl Sunday

Debbie and Gina, I'm so glad to "see" you on the blog!

I'm sitting here watching the game (the commercials) with Rob, and my cousin and his wife. They came to visit this weekend from North Carolina. They have a one-year-old son named Gavin. He is adorable. Katie calls him "bebe boi". She seems to enjoy having another toddler in the house. I think she'll enjoy having a sibling.

Katie officially knows her colors now (red, yellow, blue, orange, green, pink, purple), and she's been showing off all weekend, to keep our attention. She's a little jealous of Gavin, when we hold him, but otherwise, she likes him, and they play well together.

We're working on the alphabet now. After she learns the song, we'll do one letter a week. She already knows "B", and "T" thanks to Aric. You know those Sesame Street ABC books you gave us, Aric? We read those before naps and bedtime, and she loves them. Of course, she calls every single letter "B" or "T", but it's a start. She started learning to count by counting steps, but now she's obsessed with the Winnie the Pooh counting DVD from Aric, and her counting is getting better every day. She knows "1,2, 3, ...5,...6............Yea!!!"

Taylor, congratulations on your new gig!
Abigail, congratulations on your new laptop!
Milt, thanks for the recipe. I'll probably try it this week.

I love you guys,
Christy

HEY!!

I've posted lots today, anybody reading this thing????

Saint Patrick's Day

Beef and Irish Stout (Beer) Stew

This stew is great for St. Patrick's Day. The mixture of the beef and Guinness (or Terrapin) is awesome! I usually add more beer than the recipe calls for. Serve with mashed potatoes. This recipe serves six.

INGREDIENTS
2 pounds lean beef stew meat
3 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 pinch cayenne pepper
2 large onions, chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 1/2 cups Irish stout beer (e.g., Guinness or Terrapin) – the more the merrier
2 cups chopped carrot
1 sprig fresh thyme
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley for garnish

DIRECTIONS
Toss the beef cubes with 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil. In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper. Dredge the beef in this to coat.
Heat the remaining oil in a deep skillet or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the beef, and brown on all sides. Add the onions, and garlic. Stir the tomato paste into a small amount of water to dilute; pour into the pan and stir to blend. Reduce the heat to medium, cover, and cook for 5 minutes.
Pour 1/2 cup of the beer into the pan, and as it begins to boil, scrape any bits of food from the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. This adds a lot of flavor to the broth. Pour in the rest of the beer, and add the carrots and thyme. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 2 to 3 hours, stirring occasionally. Taste and adjust seasoning before serving. Garnish with chopped parsley.

Irish eyes will all be shining. Don't forget Scott & Kelly's party!

Milt

Computer Bargains

Abigail is the proud owner of a new laptop computer (Compaq). After calling her grandfather for help (that's me), we began watching all the ads for a cheap (meaning not as expensive as normal or under $500) computer. Abigail had a savings account balance that has been burning a hole in her pocket, so rather than spending it on new games for her Wii, Gina offered a matching program for new computational power.

As we waded through ads, we discorvered the dreaded (offer limited to available stock) notice - usually in very fine print. To play this game, we had to get the first edition of the Sunday newspaper and be ready to pounce. After a few misses, we struck gold (bam) at Circuit City. Best Buy was cheaper but Gina had a bad taste in her mouth from a previous experience with them.

Abby's only disappointment was that the laptop was NOT available in pink! I explained that there are sleeves (covers) for laptops so a solution may be just around the corner. Keep your eyes open.

By the way, Gina has sprained her back and is currently taking some really superior pain medications. It may be your best chance to ask for any favor that you need from her. It couldn't hurt (bad pun).

So much for the report from Lake Wobegone...

Milt

PS - Taylor has landed his first professional (meaning paid) photo assignment. More to follow.

Mustache Madness

Hmmmmn. So pensive. What could I be pondering? My future winnings, probably.





Mein Schnurrbart schaukelt die Erde!!



Here's a winning pose.


OK, for those who didn't already know, we had a mustache growing competition at Terrapin. The competition started as a show of solidarity against the State government holding up our license to brew beer in the new brewery. Good times were had by all and I ended up winning the competition. So, here are some photos of the progression of my award-winning mustache. It turned green on the day of the judging. Lucky for me, because I think that helped me win. Let me know if there are any questions or anyone wants any tips in mustache-growingness as I am now a professional (just like my Dad, awww) lip sweater wearer.

Hello

Hi. No real news to report from the Hayes family (Connecticut branch) -just some plain old every day updates. Last weekend of duck season was good with limits both days (ducks traveled well to home and will make delicious gumbo). Katie continues to do amazing new things every day, to which most of you would say "whatever". The temptation to believe she is the only child ever born is overwhelming. I have to really enjoy the time while she still thinks Dad is cool and finds watching Pooh cuddled up next to Dad the perfect way to wrap a day before headed to bath. I am working on sourdough strarter 2.0. It's coming along nicely but slowly, which as I do more research I am learning is common in colder climates. Good bread is on the horizon... somewhwere. If this weekend is not too busy, I may make a run at making Melissa's silken chicken tikka masala, having already created my own garam masala spice mix from scratch. Of course I'm going to have to make the naan that goes with it (not a diet food). We are finalizing arrangements to have a no-kid weekend in NYC, so Christy and I can remember all the things we did before Katie became the center of the universe. Of course, we'll probably end up spending the entire weekend eating, sleeping, and talking about Katie. Such is life. Either way, we have committed that we will do this before we get going on adoption process #2, which is right around the corner. Hope all is well. Hope to hear some news (or boring updates like this one) from everyone else some time soon.

Thank you!

Hello!

You all should be very sorry that you have not been more active on this blog. Our prize came today and it is awesome!

Melissa, thank you so much! Rob isn't home from work yet, but I know he'll love it.

Christy

Blog tricked me!

Okay, I'm not as smart as I thought I was. I've been checking this thing for new posts, and just realized that all the new stuff is in the "comments" links! Sheesh!

Melissa, you crack me up!

Christy

Snow In Georgia

We have had measurable amount of snow twice in the last week down south here in sunny (droughty) Georgia. Aric and grandma (Judy) actually built a snowman (person?) in the front yard on Saturday. Judy's birthday was Sunday and if you didn't call or send a card you may be on her list (naughty).

The writer's strike in Hollywood has caused us to dream of "I Love Lucy" and "Get Smart" reruns in desparation. After telling everyone that she really doesn't watch much TV, Judy has taken to reading (books). Who would have thought it?

Scott has joined a church basketball league but no word on how he's doing. The Leavell's are in training for a family run in Jacksonville. Apparently only 25% of the family is preparing for this undertaking but all are participating. Probably no trophy this year!

Debbie's eyes were alight with visions or sugarplums (or giant mice) this weekend. She seems to have figured out a way to get the family to Orlando in the next few weeks. No jogging is reported to be a part of this trip.

Matthew (Brent) has moved back to Covington and is working for his Dad with plans to take Autocad training. Aric has offered to take us all with him to Washington, DC if he wins the poster contest at school. The grand prize is $1,000 and a photo opp with the President (according to Aric). I think he is already packing. I'll keep you posted.

Milt

While Katie naps...

Hey Guys!

It's been gorgeous today. Sunny and warm, and snow on the ground. Don't you wish you were here? No seriously. Wanna' visit? We have sleds!

I'm attaching a picture of Rob's first sourdough attempt. He's been having a blast with this project. I can't wait until we have fresh sourdough in the house.

No news to share here, but in the spirit of the Blog, I'll post a recipe.

White Lasagna

1 pkg (10 oz) frozen chopped spinach

1 pound uncooked ground turkey

1 jar (10 oz) pesto sauce

1 cup frozen chopped onion

1 large egg

1 container (15 oz) ricotta cheese

1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

cooking spray

2 jars (16 oz each) of four-cheese Alfredo pasta sauce (Classico is a good brand)

1 box of no-boil lasagna sheets (Barilla)

1 pkg (16 oz) shredded mozzarella cheese

1. heat spinach in microwave for 6 to 8 minutes. Drain. Let stand until cool. Squeeze out excess liquid.

2. Brown the turkey and drain the fat. Stir pesto and onions into cooked turkey.

3. In medium bowl, beat egg. Stir in ricotta cheese, Parmesan cheese, and spinach until combined.

4. Coat slow cooker with cooking spray. Put a layer of Alfredo sauce into bottom of cooker. Put layer of noodles (break to fit) on top of sauce. Put ricotta cheese mixture on top of noodles. Put layer of turkey on next. Put Mozzarella cheese on top of turkey layer. Put Alfredo sauce on top of Mozzarella cheese, and start layers all over again, twice. You should end up with 3 layers of noodles in the end. Put sauce on top of last noodle layer (no-boil lasagna sheets must be moist to cook).

5. Cover and slow cook on Low for 4 hours (or until top noodles are tender).

6. Turn off slow cooker, sprinkle mozzarella cheese on top before serving. It'll melt.

You can also cook this in the oven, like a normal lasagna dish. Just put it in a big lasagna dish, cover it with foil, and cook it for an hour. Take cover off, top with cheese, and cook for 5 more minutes.

Hope you like this dish. It's pretty good, and actually pretty easy.

Love,

Christy

First Timer

This is my first ever blog post, so be gentle with me.

Speaking of firsts... As some of you may know, I decided recently to attempt to be a baker. In typical fashion, I decided to try something hard first. Sourdough bread. Armed with article from web, flour, water, plastic container, and wooden spoon, I started off on my adventure. After only 2 days of what was supposed to take 4, my "starter" batter was producing gas like Stephen after Thanksgiving and had developed an odor as sour as a college student's car. So I says to myself I says, "Self, you are an overachiever". A couple of days after loving care of my starter, I am prepared to undertake a weekend sourdough bread baking. And it is a multi-day process which I find to be quite enjoyable and zen-like. Only problem is that as I approach the finish line, I find my dough is not rising as much as it should. That's OK. I'm an overachiever. This will work out in the end. Throw it in the oven, and I'm sure it will improve. Many minutes of oven peering later, I pull from the oven my first "loaf" - a rather cheesy smelling brick of a thing. After much sawing with a bread knife, Christy and I took one nibble of the world's best smelling new building material - just to say that we had tasted it. Then into the trash. There are some good photos of its bitter end that hopefully my wife will post. Much research later, I realize that I have likely made a number of errors. The first of which was mistaking the cultivation of a bacteria like that used in making cheese for the cultivation of the wild yeast necessary for making sourdough bread. Bread gods 1, Hubris 0. I shant be daunted. More to come on my efforts to become Yankee Sourdough King. Once it's mastered, perhaps I'll send out packages of lovely sour beer smelling bubbling starters to family and friends so they can make their own loaves from what I am determined will be the best strain of sourdough motherloaf ever to be fermented in Connecticut (that might not be as hard as it sounds).

Anybody actually reading this???

So... with only two comments on the last post and only one vote (Stephen's) on the left hand column for our poll, we're off to a slow start.

But the holidays are over... no more excuses. I want comments. I want videos. I want pictures. I want new posts so we all know what's going on. Invite the kids to play too- send me their email addresses and I'll add them as contributors, otherwise they can still comment without being added. This blog is supposed to be a conversation. A gossip sounding board, if you will.

I issue a challenge. First commenter AND the first new post both get prizes- go ahead and give me your address in the post so I can mail you something. And this doesn't apply to you, Stephen.

And to make this really easy- here are some subject ideas:
- Abigail & Erin got cameras on Christmas- how 'bout a photo?
- Tell me what you did for New Year's.
- Post a recipe (hint, hint: Forgotten Cookies)
- Answer the now-closed poll about your thoughts for next year's Christmas up North.
- And speaking of cameras, I thought Taylor is quite the shutterbug... I'd like proof.
- Sound off on Britney

Anything. Let's talk. Please.
Melissa