Doughnuts

I haven't cooked with yeast since I was a little girl. I never cooking with yeast as a child because I couldn't stand the texture of the yeast when you had to knead the dough. As a result, I got good at baking quick breads, cakes, and other dessert items. Anyway, I have decided it is time to give yeast another try. The first thing I decided to try to make was doughnuts (YUM YUM). Last weekend I we made the special treat. Sophia helped every step of the way. She loves to cook and I have realized now that I need to find a little apron for her. I didn't realize how easy it is to make doughnuts!! We made whole wheat ones and they turned out great. Here are some pictures of our fun:

James didn't actuallly eat any doughnuts but he sure wanted too!!

Children's Museum

Today we went to the Children's Museum. It was James and Sophia's first time to go there. Sophia was VERY excited when we got there. She check squealing and go 'OOOHHH'. She is also big right now into saying "Follow Me" so several times while we were there she would say to either Jim or I, "Follow Me, Follow Me" and then she would take off running. There were a couple of school children there in groups and Sophia kept joining the groups too. It was funny. She seemed to like the glass exhibit and the dinosaurs the best (or maybe it was Mom and Dad who liked the dinosaurs best and that is why we spent more time there). James loved seeing all of the people and there was a section in the Toddler room for kids under 2 (most of the kids there were crawlers) which he absolutely loved. It was a very fun time. We spent a good 4 hours there and when we got home, Dad, Sophia and James all took good naps.

After supper, Jim played with James and tried to get him to walk. James walked about 8 feet using his push-walker. I was surprised!

Fun Weekend

Saturday I spent the afternoon at Beck's scrapbooking. I am a year behind and I haven't even scrapbooked a thing on James yet but that's okay. I'll catch up eventually. Saturday evening we had the Bielski's over for dinner and for a post-Christmas Christmas celebration. I got a new bracelet from Suz and Jim got a new hi-tech sweatshirt from Len. The kids got paint and crayons for the bathtub. We used them tonight and they LOVED it. Sophia stayed in the tub until the water was all cold and she was a wrinkled little prune. It is 8:40 PM and I still hear her talking in her bed. Funny girl - go to sleep! James is feeling better now that the antibiotics are working through him. He was attached to Daddy today and laughed all afternoon. He is definitely feeling much better. Jim is watching football and I am going to take a shower. Good night!!

Christmas Pics and Kids Update

Here is the annual picture with the snowman. Sophia was about James' size this time last year. My how they grow!!!

Santa brought a full kitchen for the kids. We have had hours of fun already.

Uncle John and James - we love the new hat!!

Becky came over to watch James and Sophia while Jim and I went to the Beeson Christmas at Bob's house. Sophia got to play with Matthew and Adam and as you can tell by her face, she had a wonderful time!

Sophia got a princess outfit from Aunt Beck. She LOVES it and almost everyday she asks to be a princess. She calls herself "Princess Phia".

Well, that is just a few of our holiday pictures. It was a wonderful holiday and thankfully Jim was off of work for the whole week of Christmas so that was very nice. Unfortunately that means that the next Christmas he will probably have to work but I guess that just comes with the territory.

Sophia update: Today Sophia started to sing the ABC's all by herself. She has been singing the song with us but now she just sings it on her own. She sings all the time. She doesn't always like it though if you join in with her. Apparently she wants that stage to herself :) Sophia also spelled HOT today. I don't know if she will remember it tomorrow but today that was the big buzz word. She also started to use plurals in her speech - she was looking through a book with me and she said "Mommy, two eggs." Very smart! She got to play in the snow today with Jim and she REALLY liked that. She helped shovel the driveway.

James update: James still has croup although he is sounding better at night. The steroids turns him into a little devil every once in a while but he will be off of the medicine in about 2 days. Today he started taking steps with his little walker. This was great I thought. He is also "crawling" (belly crawl) all around the house now too. When he sees something he wants, he is going to go and get it. There is part on the refrigerator that comes apart at the bottom of it and for some reason he really likes to crawl towards it and take if apart. He is starting to give Hi-5's and pointed to my nose today (although he is not real consistent yet). He still refuses to take the sippy cup or the cup with the straw and only wants his bottle. Oh well - we have plenty of time for him to learn. OH! - and James has given up the pacifier -all on his own! I love it!

Christmas Pictures Coming Soon

I just put our Christmas pictures on my computer this week so hopefully tonight I can post some of our Holiday pictures. In the meantime, last night James came down with croup. We have been trying to fight off something for several weeks now but we were afraid it was whooping cough (which has been going around Hamilton Co. thanks to all those parents who refuse to vaccinate their children). Anyway, thankfully it is not whooping cough but instead is croup. Poor little buster sounds terrible at night and he doesn't look too great during the day but he is hanging in there like a trooper. Around midnight last night Jim called in some steroids as a treatment for croup. After midnight though James slept until almost 7 so that was nice. Hopefully the croup will run its course and he will be better in 4-5 days.

Sophia on the other hand is talking up a storm. She is making 4 word sentences now and is using more and more verbs and pronouns. She still calls herself "Phia" but that's fine, I think it cute. She fell in church on Sunday while playing with the kneelers and has a cut right between her eyes. It looks lovely. We put "medicine" (anitbac ointment) on it everynight to help it heal better. She feels better when the "medicine" is on it.

I feel like there should be more news to tell but I can't think of anything else right now. If I remember (or take the time) I will post the Christmas pictures tonight.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year!!! I wish that I could say that we did something super exciting last night but we couldn't find a babysitter so Jim and I stayed home with the kids. I was in bed shortly after 10:30 and Jim soon followed. He has to work this week so he has an excuse to go to bed before midnight. My excuse was that I was tired and the kids keep me busy while Jim is at work. Anyway, today I made pork roast with potatoes and sauerkraut in the crock pot along with a black-eyed pea salad...all for good luck into the New Year. The recipes were all new so I was a little worried that they wouldn't turn out but they actually tasted great! Jim really liked the meal so that is all that really matters. The kids and I spent the first day of the New Year playing with all of their new toys (I will post pictures and catch you up on Christmas as soon as I get the pictures downloaded), cooking, doing laundry, and vacuuming. Ah, what fun. On the plus side though, James had two good naps. That always helps out a bunch. Jim had a busy day at work today. I wouldn't think going to the ER would be a fun thing to do on New Years Day but I guess some emergencies can't wait...and of course as always, some are not emergencies at all but they still help us pay the bills.

The kids are doing new things all the time. James started to crawl backwards and army crawl forwards today. He likes his new freedom. He can also get his belly off the floor and he sticks his little butt out when he does this so that is really adorable. He is trying to say the "B" and "M" sounds and I think any day they will come on out. He loves saying "da". James tried avocado today...he did not like it. Maybe tomorrow he will. Sophia as always surprises me everyday with what she knows. Today I went to get her out of bed in the morning and she said "Daddy work. Mommy home." How observant. She continues to count well - sometimes making it all the way to 14, sometimes stopping at 9. She has also mastered finding and naming 8 colors and continues to work hard on her new puzzles (thanks Aunt Carol). She also loves to bake and helped me make a red velvet cake yesterday. The mixer doesn't bother her but the vacuum cleaner scared her - funny girl! I am already starting to think about what to do for her birthday in Feb. - she will be turning 2!!!! Maybe we will just do things as a family and not have a party...or maybe we will have a party. I don't know. I think Jim as to work that week so that may make all the difference. It is hard for me to think of something for her to do as far as parties go because all the children that she plays with and knows are all older. If anyone has any cute ideas for a 2 year old, let me know.

Vacation

We visited Marco Island again this year for our Dec. vacation. The condos there are very nice with a full sized kitchen and down feather beds. They also have complimentary laundry service so that helped out a lot with the children's clothing. We had them wash all of our clothes before we came home so we came home all we had to do it put away the clothes. It helped out a bunch! We had a two bedroom this year because Mom came with us. She watched the kids one night so Jim and I could go out to dinner. We went to a French restaurant that was delicious.

Here is James and Jim together. James loved the pool. As soon as he was in the water he kept kicking and splashing...non stop!! It made it hard to hold him because he was ALWAYS kicking and then splashing you in the face. It was worth it though...SO CUTE!!

Sophia and Jim made a sand castle together. They also made a sand snowman (Sophia loves snowmen this year) but the snowman didn't turn out so well. I thought the sand castle looked pretty good though!

We will definitely go back again next year, except Dad and/or Mary is going to have to come along to (Mom's request). It is such a relaxing and beautiful place to go to. Down the street is a shopping complex with restaurants, an ice cream parlor, and a movie theatre that serves meals. Since it is a small island, there are not that many streets so it is easy to navigate and the people at the hotel are so accommodating and friendly. We had a nice relaxing time. And I think everyone except Mom and maybe Jim got plenty of rest - Thanks Mom!!

POTTY TRAINED!!!

Well, I think it is official. Sophia is potty trained!! She has gone over 10 days without having one accident and with telling us that she needs to go potty. I rarely have to remind her now to go. It is awesome! I took her shopping to pick out her very own underwear and to my surprise she chose Princess underwear. Now we are in a big Princess stage. She wants everything Princess. Today she chose Princess Ariel (The Little Mermaid), and she danced around the house singing "Princess Ariel". So cute! I still put her in a diaper to go to bed and she got very upset today about that.

James 6 Months Pictures

James gives this look a lot, especially when he is meeting someone new or you want to hold him but he is trying to tell you he is fine where he is at.

Sitting up like a champ!

I love this photo. See his two teeth!

This is a new trick he learned to do with his lips. Adorable!!

In other updates, I don't remember if I mentioned this or not but Sophia's EEG results came back normal!! Yeah! She doesn't need to be put on any medications or anything. We thought that was great news. The children right now are napping so I am trying to catch up on things but as usual, I can't think of anything else that the kids are doing. Oh, Sophia is potty trained during the day. She will run to the potty when she has to go. The funny thing though is that she can't pull down her own pants yet. So yesterday, Jim took care of the kids while I went to dinner with Christina (Thank you!!) and when I came home, Jim told me that Sophia pee-peed on the potty. Except, Jim was busy with James so Sophia went to go do it by herself. When she was done, she showed Jim all of the pee in the potty. Jim looked in there and wondered how she did it all by herself. Until he realized that her pantyhose were soaking we in the middle!! Funny - remind you of anything Carol?!

James 6 Months Check-Up

I know I haven't blogged in a long time but it has been really busy. I promise soon I will post new pictures and catch everyone up. In the mean time, James had his 6 month check-up yesterday. He is 29 inches long (which means he is growing out of his infant car seat and I have to buy a new one), 18 pounds 12 ounces, and I can't remember the head circumference except that it was in the 70%ile. His height is in the 100%ile and his weight is in the 70%ile. If you saw him before his bath, you could tell he is going to be just like Jim, long and skinny. Anyway, he is doing awesome and is sitting up on his own. What a big boy!