Food, friends, and a baby

Wow, three posts in three consecutive days - what's gotten into me? I'll try not to let the momentum die down.

This past Saturday, we had Heather, Bruce, Chelle, Jeremy, Terry, Vickie and Zachary over for dinner. I made a pasta casserole from Annie's Eats, which is the second "real food" recipes of hers I've tried. I have to say, I wasn't too impressed with either one so we'll see if I make any more. The pasta casserole had good enough flavor, but it wasn't saucy enough. I wasn't the only one who thought that so it wasn't just that I tend to like a few noodles with my sauce; everyone thought it needed more.

I made garlic bread with a recipe from Allrecipes. It, too, was good but probably nothing to write home about. But maybe it's not fair to judge it too harshly since I didn't follow the recipe exactly. I used softened butter instead of melted, Italian seasoning instead of parsley, and no cheese.

However, two so-so dishes were forgiven when it came to dessert. I made some "brownies" using cake mix, sweetened condensed milk, butter and Milky Ways sliced up. Chelle brought some ice cream to go with them and, as Rachael would say, "Yum-oh!" If you need to make a dessert and you're looking for something simple, give this a try.

Okay, I've talked your ear off long enough. How about some pictures of Zachary? I don't think you guys have seen him since he was born in July.

Here he is taking things in from his Bumbo on the bar.
















We separated for dinner - boys in the kitchen, girls and babies in the dining room.
















Zachary's newest obsession: his feet!
















We all loved how it looked like Zachary was reaching his hands back to hug Vickie when Chelle took this picture. Commence heart melting in 3, 2, 1...
















He didn't have the same affection for me, but he was happy on my lap.
















We kept Zachary up way past his bedtime and he let us know by striking a pose. Vickie said this is what he does when he's tired, and he sleeps with his arms overhead, too.










































Thanks, everyone, for coming and being guinea pigs for my cooking. Terry and Vickie, I'm so glad you guys brought Zachary. It was fun to see him and spend some time with him.