By Popular Demand. . .

Ok, here's the recipe for the Cheesecake Filled Chocolate Dipped Strawberries. They look impressive, but are SO EASY!

INGREDIENTS:

-strawberries -- the Bigger the better!

-1 8 0z cream cheese

-1/2 large white chocolate bar melted (I used white chocolate chips instead)

-1 large container extra creamy cool whip

-2 tablespoons of sugar

and

-1 large bar of MILK chocolate (melted) to dip them in.

DIRECTIONS:

First, cut the top off the strawberries and use a paring knife to carve out a portion of the inside to make room for the cheesecake filling.

NEXT:

Cream the cream cheese and sugar together and set aside. In a plastic bowl (glass will make the chocolate go hard. . . not melt) melt the white chocolate. Whip up the cool whip until soft peaks form. Then add the white chocolate to the cream cheese mixture and cream well. Next, blend in the cool whip--- YUM!

Now, it's time to fill the strawberries. . .

The first time I made these I spooned in the filling, but the second time, I wised-up and piped it in using a cake decorating bag and tip-- this was MUCH easier, quicker, less messy and looked a lot better! Be generous when filling the strawberries! After all the strawberries are filled, melt the milk chocolate and begin dipping. Let them dry on wax paper. Once dry they need to be refrigerated.

Hope you enjoy this YUMMY treat!!

Baby Bloopers
Now that I'm in my 3rd trimester of pregnancy, my growing belly has become a hot topic in our house. Here are a couple funny examples:

Story #1
Yesterday, Grant comes up to me, pats my tummy and asks looking up at me: "Mom, is baby all done yet?" Just as he does when anxiously waiting for cookies to come out of the oven. "No," I reply "not yet. He still needs to grow some more." Not willing to accept my answer without further investigation (he is 2 1/2 after all AND my belly IS getting quite large), He proceeds to lift my shirt, poke my belly and say "hmmmm, yeah, not yet."

Story #2
As the kids were eating their after school snack on Thursday, they decided to play a game of "I Spy". After taking a few turns spying and guessing, Sierra says "I spy with my little eye something round." Grant guesses "My dinosaur ball!" "Nope!" Sierra replies. "I know," says Dallin with a smile, "Mom's baby belly!" "YES!" Sierra giggles, and everyone (including eavesdropping me) begins to laugh. Clever, very clever. :)

Sierra's Day

Thursday was a special day for our little girl. We registered her for kindergarten that she is super excited to attend this fall and she had her end of the season party for her first season of soccer. We went straight from Kindergarten Round-up to McDonalds where we met up with the "Bulldogs" (Sierra's soccer team) to eat, play, and hand out trophies. We had a lot of fun with her soccer team this season! She had a great coach and the kids were all entertaining and adorable on the soccer field. Here are some pictures of the "party".

After eating and playing for a while, it was time for the trophies to be handed out. How do you round up 10 little kids in the McDonalds play area? After coaching these little ones all season, Coach Coleman knew just what to do-- he began tickling and wrestling with one of the kids and in a matter of minutes ALL of the kids were dog piling him. And ready for the Award Ceremony to begin.
Sierra and Coach Coleman

Sierra and her first trophy!!!

Congratulations Sierra! We love you! You sure are growing up fast!

Passion

Grant loves sports, but lately he has become especially fond of baseball. Every morning he grabs his little baseball hat and puts it on (still in his pjs) and runs to the backyard to practice. Most of his day is spent playing ball or trying to convince me, or anyone who is willing, to play baseball with him. This morning was especially cute-- he knows baseball players wear helmets while batting and since he doesn't have a batting helmet, he used the next best thing-- a knight's helmet from our dress up box. He is too cute!

2009 Rice Family Garden Update

Well our first family garden is showing early signs of success. We have already been able to enjoy strawberries and radishes. We also have carrots, broccoli, lettuce, squash, onions, peas, beans, tomatoes, and peppers. With the exception of a couple plants given us and two strawberry plants that we purchased the remainder of the garden has been grown from seed.

I was surprised on the success we have seen so far and expansions up the hill to our garden next year are already in the planning phases.