Homemade Madagascar Vanilla

I love to bake!  Jerry and I decided to try our hand at making Vanilla.  Being that my cowboy is so smart and thinks the only way to go is the quality way...he researched the beans, the vodka and the different final products.  We chose to buy the beans from olivenation.com.  We received lovely long, plump and fragrant beans.  He bought Smirnoff Vodka.  The bottles were ordered from specialtybottle.com.  They come with caps and we ordered little shrink wraps to go around the caps. The labels came from onlinelabels.com. They have a very easy and free template you can use and save when designing your labels.

March 2011 - The plump beans, split and ready to be scraped

Scraping the beans and putting them in the 2 qt jar

Seeds...Paste...Caviar

Beans and Caviar in Vodka...going into a dark cabinet to age.

Look how dark it is after just a couple months

September 2011...It has aged 6 months.  We've strained it and are mixing the 2 jars together before bottling. We probably went a little overboard this being the first time we've made it.  If a little's good, more is better :)  We increased the amount of beans we used...ending up with a 4x Vanilla.  Mercy is it good.

Cutest little 2 ounce bottles waiting for liquid heaven

TaDa!!!  Bottled, labeled and ready for gift giving :)

We ended up with 55/2 ounce bottles.  We're gonna go ahead and pour more vodka over remaining beans...just to see if it's worth it to use the beans 1 more time as so many online say to do. 

Michgan June/July 2011

My Parents Garden June/July 2011

 I went to Michigan the end of June...another grandson was on his way :)  Spent 2 weeks with my family...had lots of fun.

My Dads strawberries

My angel girl Kaitlin Virginia. She's almost 5 years old. We always go to Barnes and Noble when I visit.  Lots of fun with this sweet child.

Look at that angel girl face :)  When we go to the bookstore we stop into the Starbucks and get her hot chocolate.  This time she wanted a BIG cookie.

After the bookstore we played with Silly Sand I think it's called...out in Nanny's yard. She is a happy child.

Then...we played with a princess oven..sorta like easy bake oven.  We didn't like the cake very well...but it was fun.

Later that afternoon we made bracelets.  She worked very carefully...paying close attention.  Was fun watching her pick out which color beads she wanted to use.

 

My grandson Sam...named for my father.   He turned 2 June 30th, 2011.  We gave him cowboy boots for his birthday.  He loved them...put'em on right away.  

My precious girl fishing with her great grandpa...my dad Sam.

We're having a sleepover...watching Tangled together.

Early the next morning it's back to fun activities.  She had a stepping stone kit....so we made that together.  Here she is painting the Tinkerbell imprint.  She wants to put it near her tree house at home.

And see what we have....June 27th, 2011.  A perfect baby boy.  Jace Thomas has arrived. My daughter in law is the ultimate.  She stays so calm and in control...I am blessed to have been able to witness the birth of my 3 grandbabies.

My son John with his new baby boy....their 3rd child.  Just look at proud Mama Kirstin in the background.  I love this photo.

My daughter Erin holding her new nephew. 

Daddy John, Mama Kirstin and baby Jace Thomas

Big Sister Kaitlin smoochin her new brother

This Grammy getting some hugs in.

My girl visits Texas....May 12, 2011

Yayyy, My girl is in Texas to visit us for 4 days.  I picked her up at the airport then we went for Lunch in the Stockyards.  We ate BBQ and watched the Longhorn Cattle Drive.  Fun!

 We both decided we are going to own a pair of these boots one of these days.  Beautiful!

                                                              Me...at the stockyards.

                       Me and my girl Erin Kathleen...playing around on the Brazos River.

                               Sigh....the 4 days went by too quickly.  Time for her to go home :(