Chocolate Malt Milkshakes

Alright y'all....I have NO idea what "malt" is, but I LOVE it!  Last night for dessert night, we made homemade chocolate malt milkshakes.  They were so easy and so yummy.  Serious.  Four ingredients make up this dessert.  The only thing that Paul will ever get at Dairy Queen is their chocolate malt, and I swear this recipe tasted just like it!  Here's how we made them:

Classic Chocolate Malt Milkshakes  

• 3/4 Cup Milk (The thicker, the better.  We used skim and they still turned out great.)
• 2 Cups Ice cream (We used vanilla, but you can get creative here and use whatever you have.)
• 1/4 Cup Chocolate syrup (We used Hershey's.  Add more or less depending on how you like it.  You could also try caramel or strawberry syrups for different varieties.)
• 3 TBL Malted Milk Powder (You can find this in any grocery store.  Usually it's in the aisle where you would find powdered milk and hot chocolate.  We like it quite malty, so we used 6 TBL of Malt.)

Ok, I didn't take this picture.  I didn't take any pictures last night so this is just a Google image...BUT you get the idea.

Pour everything into a blender and blend.  This recipe is quite versatile, so you can make it how you like it.  That's it!

Old Pictures I forgot to Post....

So, every once in a while I forget to put my memory stick in my camera.  I take pictures and they get saved onto my camera's internal memory.  I didn't know how to transfer pictures from my camera's memory....so the pictures just stayed where they were.  Ha ha....I'm so embarrassed to admit this.  ANYWAYS....Paul showed me how to transfer things so that I am now camera literate.  Here are the pictures that never made it to the blog:

So for our first Christmas, we didn't get a tree until like....THE DAY before  Christmas.  Until we got it, I put our presents under our lamp.  It was kind of sad looking, but it honestly looked better than our actual tree!  That thing was so scrawny and ugly!  It actually fell over from the weight of the 5 ornaments we put on it.  So sad.  Ha ha, I can just see us telling our kids someday about our first Christmas.  I'm sure they'll make fun of us!

Hayden was probably (judging from his lack of hair and HUGE smile)  about 3 months old.  HOW CUTE IS HIS SMILE?!? ha ha ha.  Now Hayden has a ton of hair, but back then it was very sparse.  He kept the hair he was born with until he was about 5 months.  Now he has a TON of hair that needs to be cut.  

I love that you can see Hayden's foot through his sleep gown.  He loved stretching it out as much as he could.  I like to think that's exactly what he was doing when I was pregnant with him.

More toes.

He also used to clasp his hands together like he was praying and then just start chewing on them.  Ha ha...I don't know why....

Doesn't this look like Paul?!?

He's so peaceful when he sleeps.  I love that he was sleeping with his hands behind his head.  Also, he's  wrapped up in my old baby blanket.  I used to love that thing.  I can vividly remember sleeping with it during naps when I was 5 in my old nursery, and I always had it with me when I got sick.  For some reason it made me feel better.

Look at his little tie onezie!  Ha ha, I made those for him to wear to church with cute khakies.  I'm not much of a baby suit fan.

This is what happens when you forget that you put potatoes in your bottom cupboard that you NEVER open.  You get tentacles.

Hayden and his friend Cambria.  We went to Paul's summer work party at Melaleuca Fields and watched a baseball game.  It was fun!  Mostly, it was fun because I got to "people watch" all of the crazy people that Paul works with...and their crazy girlfriends!  And of course we got to hang with Heber, Angela, and their hilarious kids.  Ha ha ha, it was a good night.  

I tried to get they to kiss or hug or something.  Hayden barely acknowledged Cambria's existence.  I guess he doesn't  like girls, yet!

This picture was from just a few days ago.  We were trying to get Hayden to sit up.  He sat up for a second and then folded in half like a taco!  I think his head was a little too heavy to hold up.

See?  Taco.

Lesson Learned.

DISCLAIMER:  This post was written a few days ago, but I'm just now posting it.  


I learned a hard lesson today, and it all started last night at about 7pm.  I was getting a late dinner ready; our friends were coming over to join us for dinner and dessert.  I was busy trying to take care of a very tired Hayden (who was refusing to go to bed) while doing some last minute tidy-ing.  I kept wondering, Where is Paul?  I need him to put Hayden to bed.  Paul finally came in the house with an announcement:  There are baby kittens living under our shed!


Lately, the neighbors' cats had been delivering their babies.  A few weeks ago, one delivered 5 babies in the wheat field across the street from our house.  I could hear her just moaning in pain the whole time.  Some how, she was able to deliver her babies and take care of them right away.  Amazing.  Then, of course, she and the kittens decided to live under our porch.  If I lived in the suburbs, I might care.  But I don't, so I didn't.  


It didn't surprise me too much that another cat was having babies, but then Paul told me about the shape they were in.  There were four: one was a few weeks old (and dead), and the three newborns were alive.  One's umbilical cord had fallen off and started to heal like normal.  One's cord was still long and fully attached.  The last was still attached to the sac she had lived in.  He also told me that they babies were very tiny.  


I HAD to see these babies, so reluctantly, Paul took me over to the shed.  Momma cat had dug under the shed and laid her babies in there.  Sure enough, there were three of them.  Paul didn't point out the deceased kitten (which was probably a good move on his part).  He picked up one of the babies and I saw just how tiny they really were.  They didn't look like kittens.  They looked like baby moles with very long tails.  They were whining and whining.  With their mama no where in sight, and being so small, I told Paul that we couldn't leave them there.  I couldn't help but think What kind of a mom (animal or  not) would just leave her helpless babies?  Paul (again....reluctantly but understanding) agreed.  He picked up the babies and brought them to the porch where he cut the rest of the kittens cords and sacs.  I know...kind of gross, but it had to be done.  I'm sure Paul's Uncle Zeph (the veterinarian)  would have preferred to do that, but you do what you've got to do when it needs to be done.  We brought the kittens inside and placed them in a cardboard box lined with a fleece blanket.  Under it we placed a hot pad heater to try and keep them warm.  They were so cold!  One had not an ounce of fat on it with lots of extra skin.  


This weak baby died by the time Paul left for work the next morning at 5:30am.  I had woken up with the babies every three hours to feed them and make sure that they were warm.  I did my best, but with nothing better to offer than some of Hayden's formula and a fleece blanket and heater, I couldn't prevent this death.  As I was feeding this tiny baby, I had to keep massaging her back and belly to keep her conscious enough to eat.  I knew that she wouldn't live.  Paul woke me up in the morning to tell me she had indeed died and he would take care of her.  


I got up an hour later to feed the other two.  They were more plump than the first baby, but still too small.  So far I had only gotten one of the two to actually suck on a medicine dropper of formula.  The baby that hadn't learned how to suck, baby number 2, had died in that short hour between Paul leaving and me waking up.  I texted Paul to let him know, and threw all of my energy into baby number 3.  


I held number 3's small body studying her to see if I could figure out how best to help her.  She was the only baby that had learned to suck, and was the most plump (that's not saying much though).  Her limbs were long and skinny.  Her head was still flat on top like an early fetus.  I realized that this baby was born too early to be able to live outside the womb for long.  If this baby was even 30 weeks, I would be surprised.  I went on the internet to try to research ways to help the baby.  I found a doctor on the internet that said that newborn kittens should look EXACTLY like a regular cat except smaller.  Anything that didn't had an incredibly small chance to live.  I looked at the kitten in the box.  It's head was flat, and I wasn't sure it was a cat when I first saw it.  

Baby number three.  You can still see her umbilical cord attached.  I had just fed her so she had fallen asleep.

At 9:30am, baby number 3 died in my hands while I was trying to nurse her.  I heard gurgling noises, and every time that I pushed the stopper down in the medicine dropper to deliver formula, air bubbles came up.  Soon baby was bleeding from her mouth.  I put her down and let her sleep in her warm fleece.  I brought Hayden over so that he could see her one more time (he loved the kitties).  She was motionless.  I kept trying to massage her.  Every once in a while she would gasp and even meow---but no heart beat.  


No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't do anything.  I had to learn that nature will take it's course.  Nature doesn't just go it's course...it takes it.  I should have known (and maybe I did) from the beginning that those babies had zero chance of surviving, and that what was going to happen was going to happen.  Maybe that's why mama cat had left them.  She understood and accepted their fate; she had to move on to survive herself.    Maybe she wasn't such a bad mom like I thought she had been in the beginning.  

Trying to Be a BIG Boy.

Hayden is trying so hard to be a big boy.  He doesn't really crawl or sit up yet, so daddy decided to try and teach him how.  I was soooo thrilled.  Riiiiiiight.  These are some pictures with of Hayden learning how to be more mobile.

Hayden is so funny.  Paul stood him up against the ottoman to see if what would happen...

Hayden was able to hold onto the ottoman and actually stand for a little while.  It was awesome to see, but I don't ever want him to do it again!  Ha ha.  

Then Paul decided to work on sitting with Hayden.  He sat him down, gave him his rubber ducky, and Hayden sat!  By himself.  It was only for a few seconds, but hey...he sat!

Hayden was so happy to be able to sit up!

7 Months.

Well it's September and I have a 7 month old.  Yesterday Hayden turned 7 months and, you know what....it's the same as 6 months!  Ha ha, no changes.  He's doing the same things, laughing the same amount, and crying the same amount.  He's so fun--I love that I'm the one (ok, with some of Paul's help!) that gets to influence who he'll become someday.  I hope he doesn't resent it!  Ha ha.


Pictures of my happy 7 monther:

Hayden is VERY good at reaching with his super long arms.  I think he really doesn't try to crawl much because he's just sooo good at reaching.

Look at that happy face!

Another reach.

Annnnnnnd another happy faced boy!  He's such an infant still.  It's kind of nice that he's not crawling, sitting up, or (heaven forbid) walking yet.  It gives me a chance to get used to each of his stages.  

Yesterday Hayden and I went to the grocery store.  He's such a good baby, especially when we're running errands.  He's great in his carseat and very patient while I get things done.  It's such a big help!  When we were in the grocery line and I was unloading groceries onto the conveyer counter...thing....a man walking past our line stopped when he saw Hayden.  Normally that would be strange to me, but I have to say that life is definitely different in little Rexburg Idaho.  People are just generally good natured and sincere.  In the back of my head I'm still cautious around strangers, but people just love people out here.  So anyways, the man stopped and started making little donald ducky noises at Hayden (you know the voice).  Hayden just started full out laughing at the nice man.  And everyone knows that, when Hayden smiles, about half of his face disappears.  It was hilarious and everyone in the line just started playing with Hayden.


While I was writing this post, Hayden found my wallet on the floor and started playing with it.  Yikes.  I whipped out my camera and shot this

I think we're in for trouble!

Ohhhh dear.