Cherry Almond Bread

Here you go, J!

This is the yummiest stuff ever. In fact, I might get to baking some right now ...
{and if I do, I'll post a picture. I don't know about you, but I never trust a recipe without a picture}

Cherry Almond Bread

1 C Butter
1 1/2 C Sugar
4 Eggs
1 C Milk
1 C Sour Cream
3 tsp. Almond Extract
4 C Flour
1 TBSP. Baking Powder
1/2 tsp. Salt
1 1/2 C (I use 2 C) Halved Maraschino Cherries
1 C Chopped Almonds (toast first)

Glaze

2 C Powdered Sugar
2 tsp. Almond Extract
2 TBSP. Milk (or enough to make glaze drizzly)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter two 6-cup capacity bread loaf pans.

Cream butter & sugar for 3 minutes.

Add eggs (one at a time), add almond extract, milk, and sour cream.

Whisk flour, powder, and salt. Add flour mixture to cherries and almonds and incorporate into wet ingredients. Do not over-mix!

Bake 70 minutes. (Start checking bread at 55 minutes - your oven is probably different than mine...)

*Edited to Add:
I made the bread today. I had a chunk and couldn't help but think it was missing something ... the glaze, duh! I forgot to make the glaze.
Also, I don't have the gigantic loaf pans that this recipe calls for, so I used 3 normal sized loaf pans and baked them for 40 minutes.

Truck Mania (some pics for the grandparents)

This is what Caeden does all day. His monster trucks jump over cars.

Gotta make sure the man is sitting in the seat before he goes flying through the air.
SAFETY FIRST, people.

(That is a candy cane stain on his face. He "sampled" one from the tree. Thank goodness he knew enough to unwrap it first.)

Ourdoor Wonderland

Okay, the title is a bit dramatized, but I love our Christmas tree in the front yard. We keep the lights on all day and night just so I can catch a glimpse of them sparkling under the snow (we got snow yesterday and today - finally!)

I still need to get some pictures of our vintage - old school - colored lights on the house. They make me so happy!

What we do at 5 a.m. (this was supposed to be yesterday's post)

"E" and "D"

We practice our letters, of course.


Caeden's body clock is all out of whack. He wakes up at 5 a.m. and turns on all the lights in the house and *waits* for us to notice. How do I notice? The sound of Claire crying on the baby monitor tells me he has turned on her hall light, too. Usually his timing is perfect, as I have usually just gotten Claire back to sleep.

My eyes feel like sandpaper all day and I would give anything for some sleep. Yet, when the kids are both asleep at night, instead of heading for bed, I stay up. The peace and quiet is almost better than sleep (I feel like I am wasting time if I sleep when I could be reading, scrapbooking, talking to Wayne, etc.) Last night I went to bed right after Claire, but she got up twice before 10 p.m., at 12 a.m., 3:00 a.m, and then ... the lights are on at 5.

I don't say this to whine, just filling you in on why getting to the gym still hasn't happened. How in the world does a person lose weight without working out (puking is out of the question, thank you very much)?? Must. Get. Sleep. My favorite pair of jeans is still waiting for me in the closet. Ugh!
(Let's not bring up my baking marathon post from Tuesday, yes?)