Stop 2 Salisbury

We arrived at Grandma and Grandpa's house in the afternoon on the 23rd.  We enjoyed hanging out and playing outside with frisbees.  Justin's brother Jeff and his family came Christmas eve and everyone spent the night!  The 4 big cousins all shared a room!  They really enjoyed that and were easy to get to sleep as you can imagine!

Eric was a big fan of the 2 cats at the house!  Here he is giving George a kiss.  This cat doesn't mind kids thank goodness.  George once let Caroline try to braid his whiskers!

Enjoying some of Grandma's wonderful goodies!

Her new coat we got her!

Caroline's gift to her brother...a dinosaur folder!

Wearing the pearls that Caroline picked out for me!

Wrestle time with the cousins and Justin.

Me and Lacey

The whole family

We had a wonderful Christmas morning and I hope all of you did as well.

Stop 1 - Chesapeake

Early Tuesday morning we left MI and headed towards VA.  We were on the road for 10 hours!  The kids did fabulous.  We stopped for the night in Lewisburg, WV around 430pm.  That gave us time to swim in the pool before dinner.  There was a Ruby Tuesday's across the parking lot and while the kids were getting baths and getting dressed, Justin went and got carry out and brought it back to the hotel.  We ate in the breakfast area in the hotel.  It was perfect since we were the only ones there and Eric could crawl/walk around as much as he wanted.  Then early to bed for all of us since we had been up since 530 and driven through snow and rain.

The next morning we got up when we wanted (or the kids wanted) and had breakfast, packed, and got on the road to Susan and Grahams!  We made it to their house about 245 that afternoon.  

It was great to see Susan and Graham and meet baby Ryan!

He was hungry but Caroline really wanted to hold him!

Will explaining that Ryan must know him because "I named you"

Eric wasn't so sure and really didn't like it when I held Ryan.

Happy cousins!

Making salt dough ornaments with Aunt Susan while the dads played golf.

Giving baby Ryan a bath.  Susan had many helpers when it cam to anything to do with the baby!

Sweet snuggles with Dad!

We had a blast with Susan and Graham and then left yesterday after breakfast to go to Salisbury.  Thanks for having us Morris family!!  We love you guys.

Pass the syrup please!

Wednesday at dinner Will said he felt like he was going to throw up.  He didn't make it out of his chair at the table.  He did a little on the table then we told him to get it in his plate since more was coming and he didn't want to get up.  Justin grabbed the eggs and waffles off his plate just in time!  He filled a full size dinner plate.  I wiped his mouth and took the plate to the sink.  When I got back to the table to finish my dinner Caroline asked if we could please pass her the syrup!  It didn't phase any of us that Will had just tossed his cookies at the table at the beginning of the meal.  So glad it didn't trigger any more puking at the table!  We are pretty used to Will throwing up even though its been awhile since he last did.

Will didn't feel well the next morning and ended up napping with Justin until about 9am Thursday morning.  Then he was fine and ate and played the rest of the day.  No one else got sick.  NOt sure if it was something he ate that he was allergic too or just something bad that ran through his body really quick.  I'm just glad nobody else got it.

The kids are done with school for the year and we leave to start our grand tour tomorrow.  I am not packed but have several lists of things that need to get done.

Eric got his Christmas present in the mail the other day.  Now he has a chair just like Caroline and Will!!  

He LOVES it!!!

Creative baking

So with the holidays and lots of goodies to bake upon us I have had to get creative with my cooking.  This is the first year that I have had to omit milk (casein and whey) from anything that I bake.  I am pretty good at taking a recipe and modifying it so Will can eat it without it making his tummy hurt.  I make all our usual dinners without any issue, including poppyseed chicken that has cream of chicken soup and sour cream in it!  Thanks to google and the Vegans of the world there are alternatives to sour cream, cream cheese, cheese, and butter.  I now make my own cream of chicken soup and just freeze it for use in recipes.  But what about desserts, especially chocolate ones?  I can do those too!!

Double chocolate marshmallows brownies

Those brownies above and all the desserts(except the turtles) below are all milk free!  Several recipes call for evaporated milk, so again I make my own!  It's really easy.  Just take 2 1/4 cups of any milk you drink and slowly cook it down until it measures 1 cup.  Voila!  And the powdered cocoa doesn't have milk or cocoa butter in it so I can make things chocolatey using that.

Dessert spread for the 'dessert and coffee' I hosted for some neighbors.

I highly recommend you trying the brownie recipe.  You won't be disappointed!

Double chocolate marshmallow brownies

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

½ cup butter

1 ½ cups all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

2 cups miniature marshmallows (or big ones cut into 4ths)

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

1.     Preheat oven to 350*.  Lightly grease a 9X13 in pan.

2.     Melt 1 cup chocolate chips and butter in a large bowl in the microwave.  Stir the mixture well and let it cool to lukewarm.

3.     While the liquid is cooling, mix flour, brown sugar, baking powder, salt, vanilla, and eggs.  Stir into melted chocolate. 

4.     Fold in marshmallows and the rest of the chocolate chips.

5.     Spread batter into the pan.  It will be thick.

6.     Bake 25 minutes.  Do not overcook.

Trouble with a capitol T

Eric loves playing with the Nativity scene just like Caroline and Will do.  The big kids haven't played with it much this year so far.  All the animals have either a leg or ear missing and some of the people are missing hands!  I have a pile of legs, ears and hands in a bowl on my microwave waiting to be glued back on before being packed up.  So all the animals are now laying down.  Most of the time I find them all on the floor after a big play session and I pick them back up only to find them down again later in the day.

It does capture his attention for quite some time so for that I am thankful!

After the flash went off he turned and grinned!

Mary and baby Jesus are unscathed in all the carnage of my Nativity!

One for me, One for you!

Miles once again proved that he is a great dog tonight.  Caroline fed him after dinner and Eric heard the food going in the bowl and went to check it out.  I heard the dog bowl clanging on the floor and looked around the island to see Eric sitting there and Miles trying to eat his dinner.  Eric was taking pieces out, putting them on the floor then back in the bowl.  MIles just happily ate the pieces he could get too.

In the bowl at the same time!

Eric is getting ready to dump the food out of the bowl and Miles in cleaning up the floor.

Eric cleaning up and Miles looking for more food.

I don't think Eric ate any this time!

My first haircut

Eric had his first haircut the other day!  His hair was getting so long and shaggy that I really needed to use a hair clip to keep it out of his face.  Since that wasn't really allowed it was time for it to be cut.  Nana and I used the clippers and made it much better.  He did really well and didn't seem to mind the noise at all.

Before

After and a shot of him puckering his lips!

blowing off Papa's hot coffee

Very thankful Thanksgiving

This thanksgiving was a very good one.  Not only did Nana and Papa come up for a visit but Justin is home!  We all just love having him home.  We have had a great few days and don't want our visitors to leave!  It's nice that we will get the chance to see them in a few short weeks at Christmas time.

Self portrait!

Setting our spread for our feast.  Someone was a little hungry and excited to be eating!

 We had to modify a few of our favorite recipes so Will could eat them.  I still try to avoid as much milk/casein/whey as I can.  He is doing very well but I am hesitant to push it.  The food was delicious!

Some after dinner playtime.  He crawled in the container himself and then really enjoyed Justin pushing him around the house.

I hope you all had a wonderful thanksgiving.  We are so very blessed and have many many things to be thankful for!!

Everything is going well

Things are going well!  Everyone has adjusted to having Dad back home just great.  The kids don't want him too far away and are back to sitting in his lap for dessert and wanting him for everything.  They did tell me that they had had enough of me!!

Trying on new toboggans 

Sitting with Miles

Eric is a big time climber and loves to sit at Caroline's desk.  The blue thing is now out of the way but he still pulls himself into the desk.

Helping Caroline with homework!  He climbed in there while she was already sitting there.

We have decided to come to NC for Christmas and are looking forward to seeing many of you during that time.

Eric isn't walking yet but can stand without holding onto anything for extended periods of time.  If I do hold his hands for him to walk he takes off running!  He can crawl super fast so I don't help him walk much.  He will figure it out soon enough!  He is also talking more and more and adding new words all the time.  He told me the other day when I was at a stop light to "go, go, go"!

Eric's first birthday

Well, I'm a little late on posting about his birthday!  Like almost a week late!  We had a great day filled with lots of family time and some delicious cupcakes.  He wasn't feeling the best but still had fun opening his gifts and playing.

He isn't walking but is a super-fast crawler and a great climber.  He plays well by himself but loves it when Caroline and Will join him.  He gets super excited to see them and the kids from the neighborhood.  He is still a big time mommas-boy, but what did you expect!  He has 8 teeth and is cutting molars (there-fore is pooping like 5 times a day!).  He calls most things dada but did just call me momma 2 days ago.  When I am talking on the phone he likes to grab it, hold it up to his ear and say hi-ya!  He loves to drop things and say uh-oh and play peek-a-boo.  Really only eats Cheerios while in his stroller and is now eating most everything we do.
He has a killer smile and flashes it at most everybody.  I get told all the time how adorable he is (I agree!) and have gotten asked if he is a boy.  When I told the person that asked he was they told me he was too beautiful to be a boy!!  He is pretty laid back and easy going (he has to be).
He takes a 2.5-3 hour nap in the middle of the day and is getting better with sleeping at night.  Still not sleeping through the night but we're working on it.

At his 12 month appointment he was 21 lbs 10oz and 34 inches (I know he is long but really?)  The nurse did a really inaccurate measurement of him and I got him at 30.5 standing at the fridge!  When we go back to the dr. for Will's appt. I will have them re-measure him.

Eric you are a sweet wonderful little boy and we can't wait to see what you grow to be!  I don't know what I would have done to keep myself busy while Daddy was gone but I am sure glad it was you keeping me busy little buddy!
We love you!!

He's home!!!

So Wednesday night I went to the airport and picked up Justin!  The kids had no idea that he was coming home anytime soon.  Since he came home while they were sleeping we thought he could be sitting at the table when they came down for breakfast and surprise them.  Well, Caroline decided to get up super early, something she hadn't been doing all week.  So Justin was still in bed when she was down stairs.  So I had to come up with another plan.  She was setting the table and Justin came downstairs. 

Will comes down later and sees Justin's bags at the front door.  (oops, we forgot to hide them!  Caroline asked about them too!)  Will asks if we are moving and you can hear me on the video say yes.  He is starting to get upset and then comes around the corner and sees Justin sitting at the table.

So the kids have been loving having dad home and so have I.  They stayed home from school on Thursday and we had a pretty good day.

 Justin starts back to work on Monday, if he feels better.  He has gotten a pretty nasty cold and is feeling terrible.  He got a little break from the kids hanging all over him today since they played outside with the neighborhood kids for about 7 hours!!  They were hungry and tired at dinner time.  Will ripped his brand new pair of jeans climbing a fence, so it was a good day for a 5 year old boy!

Stealing

We have a thief!  Miles could care less thank goodness.  Eric didn't take any out of his bowl but one that had fallen on the floor.

Miles usually eats all his food at one time so Eric stealing some isn't much of an issue.  I'm just glad Miles is a very tolerant dog!!  Miles just ignored Eric.

Enjoying fall

We have been really enjoying the nice fall weather.  There have been some really chilly days but the kids still spend most of their afternoons playing outside for hours before dinner.  Eric stands at the window looking out and most of the time I go out with him too.

The tree in the front yard always has kids in it!  The branch they are sitting on has been worn smooth with use.

We have just recently had our first frost and last year the day Eric was born it snowed so I know the really cold is coming.  But for now we will enjoy beautiful, sunny, 57 degree days!

Happy Halloween

So halloween isn't my favorite holiday.  Don't get me wrong I LOVE the candy but not the carving pumpkins or being out in the cold to walk door to door.  I don't even have many decorations, something Will pointed out earlier this month!  It is something that Justin takes over.  He and the kids carve pumpkins and go trick-or-treating while I stay home and hand out treats.  This year no such luck.  I did it all.  Well almost all.  We didn't go door to door this year.  We went with a neighbor to her church and their harvest festival.  There are a few outdoor things and then games and such inside.  Perfect!  

Supergirl taking a break from flying to ride a pony!

Superman needed a break too!

So before we left for the festival I tried to get some pictures of the outfits.  Not sure I got a very good one but here is what I got.

Dropping Eric!

Check out Will's mouth!

 The festival had inflatables that the kids loved.  They had simple games as well and I think the kids got about 15 pieces of candy each.  Yes!  Will was even able to pick the non-chocolate candy so he can eat all that he got.

Eric loved the ponies and I sat him with Will just to get a picture.

Hope everyone else enjoyed Halloween!!