for the love of chocolate pudding...

It is cold.  And we have had 3 weeks of sick and yick at this house.  So we I needed to make an awesome comfort food treat on Saturday with the kids while S had his marathon inventory day.  I was originally thinking brownies or Grandma K's oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, but then we watched an episode of America's Test Kitchen on PBS and they made chocolate pudding.  CHOCOLATE PUDDING!  Yes, that was it.  Unfortunately I didn't have any box mixes, or the fancy expresso powder or even heavy cream in the house that ATK's recipe called for.  Then I remembered making pudding with my dad when I was little out of the Betty Crocker cookbook.  I pulled mine out and found the recipe, and then decided to mish-mash the two together based on what ingredients I had in the house for the following deliciousness.  (kids helped measure out everything and G was an awesome stirrer!  Dad, I may be able to attempt your scalloped potatoes in the near future if she keeps it up...=)

Homemade Chocolate Pudding (our version)

1/2 cup white sugar
3 Tbsp cocoa powder
2 Tbsp cornstarch
1/4 tsp salt
3 large egg yolks
3 cups skim milk
1 stick butter
5 oz chopped dark chocolate  OR  1/2 cup + 1 Tbsp chocolate chips
1 tsp vanilla

Whisk sugar, cocoa, cornstarch, and salt together in dutch oven or large sauce pan. Whisk in yolks and 1/2 cup of the milk until fully incorporated, making sure to scrape corners of  the pan. Whisk in rest of the milk until incorporated.  Place pan over medium heat; cook, whisking constantly, until mixture is thickened and bubbling over entire surface, around 5 to 8 minutes.  Cook 30 seconds longer, then remove from heat.  Add butter, chocolate and vanilla, and whisk until melted and fully incorporated.  Pour through fine-mesh strainer into bowl to get out any cornstartch lumps. Press parchment paper against surface of pudding, and place in refrigerator to cool, at least 4 hours. Whisk pudding briefly and serve!

Please, please try this pudding.  It was NOT hard to make (seriously...if I can do you, you can!), but it was hard to wait for it to cool!  And I won't tell at all if you make it again 2 days later because you couldn't stop thinking about it and it was all gone before your hubby even got home Saturday night.  And I really won't tell if you decide you just can't wait for it to cool and pour it into a mug and call it hot chocolate (seriously...the high is -4 today and the windchill is -30, who wants cold pudding on a day like this?!).  I will tell if you put your kids in matching pj's and feed it to them as a bedtime snack though because you will need to grab your camera for the silly crazy giggly fest that just might happen because of it...

fun (farming) friday, 1.18.13...

Weeks with school can get long and there is never enough time after school before bed to do all the things everyone wants to do.  So we stay home during the week working on reading and other school things, but on Fridays we always try to do something fun after school.  I hope to post more about the things we do this year each Friday!

This Friday was an extra special one especially for W.  He asked his Boppa R to come and talk to his kindergarten class about Farming for the letter F.  What grandpa can refuse a request like that!

So Dad came up to the cities for a very quick trip and talked to the class after lunch on Friday.  It was awesome.  Farming is something that these city kids don't get a lot of exposure to so they all paid very close attention and asked good questions.

Dad did a fabulous job and had a bunch of pictures of his farm and fields which really helped show and tell the kids about farming and what he does.

The day was not only fun for W -  H had fun playing in the classroom with Boppa while I did my job as a room mom and helped with the once a month pizza lunch that happened to be on this Friday too.

And C particularly had fun too because he got to pretend he was a kindergartener for a couple of hours playing at recess with W, eating pizza lunch with the class, lining up with them and sitting in the big kid chairs to listen to Boppa talk too.

The kindergarteners were very excited for the fun stuff that Dad brought along for them too.  He had a tractor calendar and pencil for each of them (thanks to the local John Deere dealership!), and a little bag of soybeans and corn from the farm too.  Thank you so much for coming up to do this, Dad!  I think I might have been just as excited as W was!! =)

Now Fun Fridays are usually about doing something fun for the kids after school and that is how I try to plan things, but today was a much needed "fun" day for me too.  Got to see my dad and have lunch with him before he headed home, and enjoy all the bakery treats he brought up for us!  Then after school we headed to sister.in.law C's house to bring over a belated birthday gift for my niece G.  The kids had so much fun playing with their cousins and I very much enjoyed a lovely afternoon sipping tea, laughing at toddling H and the dog Pippen, and chatting with C while she baked bread!  The past few weeks of Jan have been particularly rough with sick and ick, so today was very refreshing to be out in the real world again!  So thanks to Dad and C for not only helping the kids have a Fun Friday, but me too.  Love you all!

happy 4...

When your birthday is on New Year's Day, it is inevitable that it is going to be swallowed up by holiday celebrations and family that just saw you at Christmas so won't be able to come for your birthday.  So when a chance comes along to celebrate big, you have to grab it.  And that is exactly what we did for C this year!  We were in Edgerton for Christmas, and being that we were able to spend almost a week there, one of the days we set aside especially to celebrate C's birthday.  He was super excited, I mean what could be better - celebrating your birthday on the farm with the whole Roskamp family (we do know how to celebrate quite well, if I do say so myself =)!  Even though it was a few days before his real birthday, we called it his birthday party day, and he was just fine with that.  And what a party day it was!

 first up was scooping snow with Boppa in the tractor...

and then playing on the snow piles they just made...

and sled rides from Uncle M and Dadda...

 and just having fun in the snow (cousins!!!).

Then came doughnuts from the Edgerton Bakery....so delicious that they were consumed before any photographic evidence could be taken.  And believe me, if you had a bakery doughnut in front of you, grabbing the camera would NOT be what you would do first!

And of course there was other farm fun to be had throughout the rest of the day...playing in the shed with the pedal tractor and bikes and other wheely things, playing down in the basement with all the toy tractors, reading Aahma's big stack of kids books, and playing with aunts and uncles and cousin E!!!

But the main party was in the evening.  Things were started off right with homemade pizza!

  Auntie A and Uncle M made the pizzas...

while all the kids were entertained by Boppa's glowing Apple devices (enough in the house for one for each!)...

until we made them clear off so that we could eat!  SOOOOOOO delicious.

And what is a party without presents, right?  First up one from Uncle M, Auntie A, and cousin E.

(can I quick pause though and tell you how much I love this sweet boy?!!)

what is it...

awesome alphabet letters!!!

Auntie A made C a set of fabric alphabet letters - 2 alphabet sets and his name, all in a handy dandy bag with a big C on it for his name (which I think might have been his favorite part!  my favorite part is that there is enough letters to actually spell things out with the 2 sets and his name!).  

He loves these - thanks so much Auntie A!

Next up one from Boppa and Aahma.  They gave him a super cool electronic apple (no not one of THOSE Apples =), that has all the letters to push and all sorts of alphabet games.  We didn't get a picture of him opening it, so instead I will show you a photo of the lovely gift givers...

 who gave up their 39th anniversary to focus on their grandson.  Thank you so much Aahma and Boppa!  (And C LOVES the apple!)

Last was the gift from Uncle L and Auntie J.  He couldn't really open this one, so we told him to sit at the kitchen table and wait...and well...I will let the photos tell the rest:

Auntie J is a very talented musician and music teacher, and she is also a very talented cake decorator!  (remember the dino cake she made for W?)  She made a phenomenal Lightning McQueen (both boys are obsessed with Cars!) cake for C!  The details are incredible and she got the shape and character spot on.  I also love how she changed the McQueen's number from 95 to 4 for C, and also put his name on the cake.  And C's reaction?!!!  Precious and priceless.  And so excited!  He hasn't stopped talking about this cake.  Thank you so much Auntie J!!!  We love you!

The cake was admired by all...

"but can we eat it?!!!"...

yes! (but NO ONE volunteered to cut that cake!  we made the baker herself do it!)  And I have to say, it was a very delicious cake.  S even said it was pretty good for chocolate cake, which, from him who does not like chocolate cake, was a big compliment. =)

Happy Birthday C!  And special thanks for the super special day for our big boy!

You might think that his actual birthday, a few days later, was pretty dull compared to his birthday party, but we did our best to make it a fun day.  One big bonus C gets with his birthday being on New Year's Day, is that Dadda will always be home for his birthday!  And that is pretty great in C's book.  We also have special neighbors who will always come over to help celebrate too!

 gifts from Dadda and Momma...

best one being head lamps for everyone (seriously, they played and played and played with these!)...

 and C's yearly request for banana cake.

Happy 4th Birthday C!  We love you so!!!

christmas letter 2012...

...Merry Christmas from the bruin’s...

We hope that you have had a wonderful year and are enjoying this joyous season.  With 4 littles in the house things can be crazy at times all the time, so we are trying hard to slow down and focus on advent and the birth of Jesus.  That means we have given up some things (like baking!), but our annual letter is something that did not get cut!  We do so enjoy hearing from everyone around Christmas and wanted to be able to share with you too.

(family photos in no particular order!!)

God has certainly blessed us in 2012!

January:         Carsten turned 3, and we spent the month staying in and snuggling tiny baby Henry.

February:       Steve was ordained as a deacon at church. We drove to Edgerton for Henry’s first visit to the farm over a long President’s Day weekend.  Grace learned how to knit from Cary’s mom!

March:           We enjoyed the first signs of spring and being able to play outside more. Henry was rolling over easily now(4 months)!

April:               The chicken pox outbreak of 2012 - Grace came down with it first mid month and had to miss a week of school.

May:               Willem and Carsten got the pox 2 weeks later, then Henry got it one week after that.  After a month of being quarantined, we really enjoyed our trip to Willmar for Mother’s Day!  Also, we finally got a playset for the backyard (Best. Purchase. Ever.).

June:              Summer break began!  Cary’s mom came to stay for a week during VBS and we made (LOTS of) strawberry jam.  Henry started crawling first and then sitting up (7 months).  Willem turned 5, and Cary and the kids enjoyed a road trip to both grandparents at the end of the month.

July:                It was a busy month of kid activities!  3 weeks of soccer for Grace and Willem, 3 weeks of swimming lessons for Grace, and 1 week of swimming for Willem.  Went camping at Sibley State Park with all of Steve’s family.  Carsten learned to pump on the swings.

August:           We went to the farm for a big hog roast celebrating Cary’s dad’s 60^th birthday and her Uncle Jim and Aunt Marcia’s 50^th wedding anniversary.  Henry signs his first word (“fan” at 9 months)!  Grace turned 7, and we made our annual trip to the state fair. 

September:   School started for Grace (2^nd grade) and Willem (Kindergarten!!!). Cary started teaching Carsten’s Sunday School class.  We had fun attending neighbor Katie and Tyler’s wedding.  Henry says his first word (“bye” at 10 months)!

October:       We participated in the annual CCS bike marathon.  Sister-in-law Amy and niece Evelyn visited us for a super fun week.  We also made applesauce with Steve’s mom.

November:   Henry turned 1 & took his first steps!  We celebrated Thanksgiving in Willmar by Steve’s parents.  Willem learned to tie shoes!

December:   We are focusing on Jesus daily with a special advent calendar.  We enjoyed our annual outing to the Holidazzle parade.  The kids’ Christmas programs have been wonderful!  And we are looking forward to celebrating Christmas in Edgerton with Cary’s family.

 

           Henry is such a sweet little boy.  Crazy to think he is already a year old, that went really fast!  He loves his siblings and is in the stage where he is trying to mimic whatever they do and follow them wherever they go.  He takes a few steps at a time now, but reverts back to crawling because he can crawl like lightning and get around much faster.  He has a determined spirit and cannot be distracted easily from something he wants.  He is saying and signing more and more words each day including:  hi, bye, ball, da, ma, yeah, no, more, puppy, fan, light, and all done. 

            Carsten still loves to play with Willem and Grace, but now that they are both in school he has really grown a lot in being able to decide and do things for himself.  It was a big adjustment for him, and he still loves the days that Willem is home from Kindergarten, too.  Carsten loves to play with trucks and cars and balls, and swing outside.  He likes to be read to, and loves to count everything (might be our math boy?!!).  He feeds our 2 goldfish every day, and loves to help momma with Henry.

            Willem is an official Kindergartener and he loves it.  He loves school and is doing very well!  He has known how to read for quite some time now, so academically school is not a challenge, but it took some getting used to the routines and social aspects as well as going for 3 full days a week.  He is always excited to come home and tell us all about his days.  He reads a lot (even some chapter books!!), loves to play outside with his brothers and sister, likes to pretend play inside as well as play with cars and legos and balls (my serving spoons are never in the drawer as the boys use them for “hockey spoons”).

            Grace is growing way too fast for her momma and dadda, and is becoming such a beautiful girl.  She loves school yet, although now that there are a few more responsibilities and tasks to complete for school there is a bit more grumbling than we have heard before.  She loves to play with her friends, but her brothers are still her favorite playmates.  She loves to read as well, loves art and crafting, and music (sings all the time!).  She also loves to play outside.  She is such a great helper with Henry and really dotes on him like a second mom.  Grace was also old enough this year to start with the GEMS program at Faith CRC near us.  This has been a fun activity for her and she loves going to meetings 3 times a month on Wednesday evenings.

            Steve continues his job as a pharmacist at Costco, and is blessed to be busy in today’s economy.  His hours are going to be increased as of 2013, but it hopefully won’t be too much of a change as he has been putting in extra hours for a while already since they have been so busy.  He is also busy as a deacon at church and is enjoying serving on Consistory.  Cary is noticeably busier at home with four kids (imagine that!), but found time to enjoy being part of a small group at church this year, and is teaching Sunday School and also is a room mom at school for the Kindergarten class as well.   

            While there are times that we think life can’t get crazier or busier, we are so blessed to have so much joy and love and laughter in our home.  We wish the same for your home in this upcoming year!  God bless you and yours!          

Much love,

Steve, Cary, Grace Willem, Carsten & Henry 

merry christmas...

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!