Conquering the giant zucchini

Yesterday I finally finished shredding the giant zucchini. I ended up with 44 cups of shredded zucchini in my freezer, plus a big gallon zip-loc bag full to give to one of my friends. I made chocolate zucchini cake last night in celebration. The recipe is below. I also mentioned that I received 7 or 8 large cucumbers from my mom.

Well, these are now bread and butter pickles.
Now that I don't have any vegetables to deal with, I wonder how I shall fill my time? I'm sure Eden will come up with something.


Here is the link for the

CHOCOLATE ZUCCHINI CAKE
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/907

Can I borrow the keys, Dad?

This past Saturday, Daniel took Eden with him to run some errands. They hit the Gymboree play place, the mall, and of course Home Depot. I got the pleasure of grocery shopping by myself. I was home putting groceries away when I get a desperate phone call from Daniel. "Grab the other set of car keys and meet us at the Home Depot parking lot!"
"Daniel, is Eden in the car?"
"Yes."
"Is the car locked?"
"Yes."

Apparently, Daddy gave the girl his keys while he was putting her in the car and she hit the lock button before he could open his door. Now as I am on my way out the door, I am having a nice little laugh to myself. First of all, I know that my daughter is not in any danger, so please don't think me a bad mom for laughing at this scenario. Okay, so finally Daniel had messed up at something. I know that sounds horrible, but I always end up doing something stupid...and I have to get the "look" from Daniel (or the long sigh over the phone).

So, I am making my way to Home Depot and my cell phone rings: "Never mind, I got her to press the unlock button."

Daniel felt horrible when he got home, but I told him not to worry. Life happens at least we can laugh about it. He later told me he was using his "Jedi mind powers" to make sure she didn't press the PANIC button. Never underestimate the power of the force.

Oh, and if your kids ask to borrow the keys, make sure they are old enough to know NOT to lock themselves in the car :)

Rubber Ducky - You're the one

Tonight after Eden got ready for bed I was in the other room checking my email while she was playing in her room. It got quiet all of a sudden, the tell-tell sign that something is up, so I went to investigate. This is what I found...

She crawled in the tub in the dark bathroom (I turned the light on for the picture) all by herself. Just playing with her ducks (aka "quack quacks"). Apparently you don't need to have the water on to enjoy a good bath. I sure love that girl.

We have entered the "mine" phase

This morning, Eden and I were playing blocks when she decided to throw one at my head. I took it away from her and told her that we don't throw blocks at mommy's head or anyone's head because it is not nice, can cause "owies", etc. I asked her to tell me "sorry" (which she can) but instead she pointed to the block and said "MINE!". Great, the "mine" phase. But I'm still trying to figure out where she learned to say "mine", certainly not from me. :)

Giant Zucchini

I was home this past weekend visiting my family and attending my high school reunion. My mother has had an amazing garden this year (and I guess my dad has helped too :) ) and I asked her to save my a couple of zucchini to take back with me. Well she did and then she went out to the garden the day we left and this is what I ended up taking home...

I know...GIANT. And yes, they are real because I shredded two of them last night. I plan on shredding all of them and putting them in the freezer so I will have zucchini to make bread, throw in casseroles, you get the picture. Oh, and just in case you are curious as to the yield of 2 GIANT shredded zucchini's? It's 26 cups...no that's not a typo...its twenty-six.

Plus I still have about 8 rather larger cucumbers I need to cut up so I can make bread and butter pickles. So if anyone is in need of produce...I can hook you up...or rather my mom can...she gets stuff like this out of her garden every few days. Too bad I have a black thumb instead of a green thumb.

Special Delivery: Eden in a box!

Daddy spoils his little girl. Mommy wouldn't let her play in the box because of fear of ingesting the packing peanuts. Daddy just throws caution to the wind, but Eden didn't even try to eat the packing peanuts, much to mommy's relief.

The Naming of the Blog

Eden loves ice. I'm not sure how or when we discovered this, but she frequently requests it, especially when we are at restaurants. One night at dinner, Daniel and I thought it would be funny if we could get her to say "ice, ice baby". Of course, being the highly intelligent girl that she is, she figured it out right away. Fast forward a couple of nights later to dinner time. We ask Eden if she would like some ice to which she replies, "Ice, ice MORE baby!" Daniel and I are both practically rolling on the floor while, of course, trying to get Eden some ice. It is the funniest thing, to date, that she has said. I'm sure there is more to come, in fact I'm positive.