Happy...

You've heard the saying "happy wife, happy life" well, what rhymes with husband? 

Traditionally, the day after Christmas, my family has a big breakfast. This year we met together and everyone contributed a little something which usually ends up being a huge amount of goodness! My cousin brought pancakes and homemade chocolate syrup. Mike fell in love!

I grew up eating this stuff! When I was little, I remember having the "day after" breakfast at my aunt's house which was right next door to my grandmother's house where we usually stayed. Between the blueberry syrup and chocolate syrup, we were set! 

Although my aunt passed away many years ago, the chocolate syrup lives on. I just never had the recipe for some reason. After the breakfast this year, Mike begged me to get the recipe from my cousin. On Saturday, we finally had a chance to try it out and boy was it just as delicious as I remember it always being. I think the recipe my cousin gave me was her mom's (my aunt that always made it).

In case your mouth is watering and you're wanting to try it too...

In a saucepan, mix:
1 cup of sugar
1/4 cup of cocoa powder
1 tablespoon of cornstarch

Then add 2 1/2 - 3 cups of water. (It's important to add the water after you've added these first ingredients or they won't mix well! Lesson learned..)

Bring to a boil and then add a pinch of salt and 1 tablespoon of vanilla and simmer. Then add 1 tablespoon of butter. 

The syrup should be pretty thin. Serve over pancakes. 

Fence Building

You may remember that I helped Mike's dad build a fence at our house in NC last year around this time. It was FREEZING when we built that fence and we had a pretty big yard there... 1 acre. But it was SO worth it to see the happiness on Blue's face when he got to go outside and chase birds and run free! 

When we were looking for houses in VA, a fence was one of the things we knew we wanted/needed. Well, rentals here were going pretty quickly and we settled on one that didn't have a fence with the agreement that we would be able, with Mike's dad's help as our contractor, to install a fence. The homeowners were planning to do it anyways but scheduling wouldn't permit until the Fall. So, we moved in in August with the hope, and assumption, that we would have a fence definitely before the Fall. 

After MANY months of frustration and waiting for signatures, decisions, HOA approval, etc., we FINALLY got the go-ahead at the first of February. Yeah, so much for the Fall, huh?! And, at 38 weeks pregnant...definitely timely...the taking the dogs outside on a leash multiple times a day up and down the stairs was getting old!

So on Friday after Valentine's Day, Mike's parents came up and Mike and his Dad started the construction. It involved building the front and back portions and then tearing down our neighbors' existing fences and re-building those sides. Friday wasn't too bad weather-wise. But, Saturday through Tuesday were COLD and we had a few flurries and sprinkles and sleet showers. They were troopers and built a beautiful fence. I have to say after building the fence in NC, I can appreciate their work even more! I know first hand the hard work that went into it.

As you can see, Blue is already loving it!