Mochi (Japanese sweet rice cake) is something I've loved since I was a kid growing up in Hawaii. Luckily, my mom has a yummy recipe so I won't be missing it like all the other local foods I had growing up in Hawaii.



The ingredients. (& I love that I got our rice cooker in the shot.. hahaha)



It's a really thin, white mixture.



First layer, HOT PINK!



Second layer, (Barney) Purple!



Third layer, pretty blue!



Fresh out of the oven.



Three layers



Sooo pretty.





MMMMM.



Dawson loved 'em! Can you see the powder all over his mouth? haha :)

I had this idea to make pretty, colored cake balls for Easter! So, I mixed the batter for two cakes, and split each batter in half. Making 4 different colored cakes, which meant 4 different colors of cake balls! Also meaning that I had a TON of cake balls on my hands, lots of left overs. Oh well, I had fun decorating them!

These past couple of weeks have been a blur.. a baking, schoolwork blur. I've made cookies using the same recipe about 4-5 times! I also made the dough, split in half, and made white macadamia nut cookies with one. They were super delicious.
Dawson and I have been loving fresh fruit these days, and we especially love combining them into smoothies along with some coconut milk and a little bit of yogurt. Delicious. Here's some pictures:

















Yeah, the cookies were left in a little bit longer than intended.

I've been on a baking kick lately, ever since I discovered Bakerella. I want to try out pretty much everything, and even try and create my own recipes! I love love love baking and these cookies were absolutely delicious. My little brother isn't a fan of white chocolate, but he really liked these cookies.

I recently discovered the latest baking trend - cakeballs/cakebites/cakepops. I searched everywhere, and I stumbled upon the website that apparently got them out there, Bakerella. I decided to try out her recipe and see what all the fuss was about. And these turned out pretty good. Dipping the little balls in chocolate was easy, getting them to be perfectly covered, however, was not. My family really liked them. I only had one - On top of my new healthy diet, I have this habit of baking things and not really eating them. I definitely think I'll be trying these again and maybe trying out the Cakepops.

Dawson's first (real) Christmas! We woke up at about 10am, woke everyone up, then opened presents while the prime rib cooked. Mom made the most delicious prime rib dinner last year, and we were so eager to have it again this year! Dawson wasn't too into opening his presents; he was more concerned with shredding the paper. His gifts are pretty much Elmo & Toy Story themed.. his favorites!




Sitting in my lap :)

More pictures after the jump!

Birth & One Year! Man, the difference a year makes when they're so tiny.

AND Dawson has FOUR teeth now! They popped up so quickly.

On 12/24/2010, we woke up at 6:30am, which is super early for Dawson (who wakes up at 10am)! We got dressed in our cute pajamas (Dawson in his special Buzz Lightyear jammies) and were off to Nana & Pop's house to celebrate Christmas with them. They always celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve. Once we got there, we opened presents. Dawson opened all of his first. They spoiled him so much. Justin got D a Buzz Lightyear quad; he was so excited and loved it! Nana & Pop's got me a cupcake cookbook, which I absolutely LOVE! I have actually been eying it for some time now. After the presents were all opened, we celebrated Dawson's birthday and opened his birthday gifts. Then we ate a delicious breakfast: yummy waffles, bacon, & eggs with Sunny D! This was actually my 4th Christmas Eve with Justin's family. Christmas Eve is extremely special to us. Proof:

Christmas Eve 2007: My first Christmas with Justin; the first time I met Deric & Shannon(Pops & Nana). Champ (who is now Dawson's FAVORITE teddy) was born/built at Build-a-bear.
Christmas Eve 2008: My first Christmas I was able to attend the traditional Hall family Christmas Eve party at Grandma & Grampsy's. I had so much fun with Grandma during White Elephant! Liam was born this year and Jared showed Austin a picture of Liam so he could see their similarities. Austin made a remark to Justin, "Hey Fuzz, you should have a kid! Maybe he'd look like me like Liam does Jared!"
Christmas Eve 2009: Dawson was born.
Christmas Eve 2010: Dawson's first birthday!

Anyway, shortly after breakfast, we left to go home, and they left to visit Grandma in the hospital. Once we arrived home, Dawson was knocked out! I changed him into some different pajamas and placed him in his crib, which he slept in for almost 3 hours! Dawson woke up and we headed to the store to pick up some last minute items. I baked some Christmas cupcakes for the Hall CE party, then Justin came and picked us up and we were on our way to Grandma & Grampsy's! Unfortunately, Grandma couldn't physically attend the party, but she was there via Skype/webcam. Dawson played with his fellow baby cousins; it was incredibly adorable to watch! Liam is a year older than Dawson, Lily is a month older than Dawson, and Ewan is a month younger than Dawson, so they're all pretty close in age. Lily hugged Dawson so much he started to push her away! Liam and Ewan are too cute for words! I look at Liam and think, "Wow, Dawson is going to be about that big this time next year!" The party went on till somewhat late, and by the time we got home, Dawson was ready for a bath and nighnighttime!

Cheese for Joe's Mac & Cheese.


Dawson running around in his walker while we cook.

More after the jump..

I made them today. :)