April Showers part 3

So my little niece Reese is just the most precious thing ever. She was born nearly two months early and weighing under 3 pounds, and she has been impressing all of us with how much of a strong little girl she is. She now weighs a whopping 10 pounds at 7 months. I am so excited for Liam to grow up with her. One being that he will have a cousin his age to play with and pick on ;) and the other because Reese has down syndrome. I firmly believe that God gave Reese to our family on purpose and that each one of us has something that we are to learn from her. I am thrilled to death that my son will have a bond with her and that he will get to grow up side by side with someone as special as Reese.
As a teenager I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to go bowling once a week with a group of Down Syndrome Teenagers. They were so wonderful to be around, their attitudes were so encouraging nothing made them sad, life was simply about love. Loving each other, loving me. They would not even know me but they would greet me with a huge hug, and they would hug on me all through their game, and then they would hug me goodbye. The amount of Love that I felt from being around them has stuck with me ever since. And they were not my family. Reese is. And I am looking forward to the years ahead that will be filled with the Love that this little girl will give us and teach us about. A love so pure and nonjudgmental. A love that is unconditional.

Easter was the first time that the two really has an "interaction" of sorts. I can't wait for the years to come, but this first experience was hysterical. These photos were not posed, all movements were naturally done by the babies themselves. Absolutely no babies were harmed during the making of these photos.

April Showers par deux

We had my family over for Easter Sunday. Or Resurrection Sunday :)
I attempted to make some new recipes (bad idea) for everyone to try. First I made a strawberry and creme pie. Chilled it over night like Paula Deen said and then when I put it on the table for dessert and it was cut into, low and behold a fluid of sorts that was underneath all of the whipped cream and strawberries. I was certain I followed the recipe correctly and even brought out the cook book to prove it,
Sugar -I did that, Flour- I did that, 2 eggs beaten- I did that too.
Jen my sis in law says "2 eggs beaten"?
me-"yes"
her- "you beat them before you added them"?
me- "was I supposed to"?
her- "it says 2 eggs beaten, you were supposed to beat them together before you mixed them together"
me- "oh," (ashamed at myself)
who knew that cook book's actually need to come with direction's for the direction's?

Now if it was just the pie I would say no big deal but when it was also my sweet potato balls. The precious balls that I worked so hard on. Please find humor in my balls. So balls go something like this make sweet potato mixture add orange juice, cinnamon, yadda yadda, then take large marshmallows and wrap the potato mixture around said marshmallow, then roll in coconut. I do all of this, but once again Paula Deen led me astray. Yes I will blame everything on her. It makes me feel better about myself, ok?
Put in over 350 degrees for 20 min. BUT be careful because the last few minutes they might explode so watch carefully.
Jerk. Those Marshmallows exploded with in 5 minutes. FIVE. 5. aaarrrgh. So I have to take them out because now they are no longer pretty round delectable balls for everyone to enjoy they are a mass of potato blob on a cookie sheet that looks like a flock of birds flew over it and pooped. And not just exploded balls but still cold.
So I served them cold. Chilled sweet potato balls.

And Paula Deen makes a lot of money to screw up my Easter dinner. She really does.

April Showers

I am going to do a little shower of posts today to get you all caught up on our little lives out here in California.

First shower ~ So as I have mentioned before I would like to dabble in a little photography here and there. So since Liam is now more expressive and has a better temperament for sitting still without crying, we set him up in a new red bucket out in our front yard and attempted to take some photos. He was much easier this time and we are happy with what we got for the time being since we don't have the money right now to have professional photos taken. Here is just a handful of some of our favorites. Hope you enjoy them.

April Fools

So today I am 5 months old.I like Screaching as loud as I can until everyone's ears hurt.
I love kicking and splashing in the bath tub.I love my thumb, it tastes delicious.I like spitting up on clean clothes, it is real funny.I love eating peas. I really do.I love to play in my Jumperoo.I like to giggle, especially at my puppies. They are SO funny.I love to stick my tongue out at my parents.I love to pout my bottom lip when I am unhappy.
I like to be barefoot.
I love going outside for walks, the air smells so good.I love to wake up all through the night. Especially when mommy and daddy just get comfy.
I like to scream during my nap time, until it is time to play again.I love to be held, it is so comfy.

These are my three most favorite bath toys. Mr. Hippopotamus and my whales.
I love this baby, he hangs out here in the hallway. I always smile at him though, just to be nice.
I love these rings, mommy says every baby since 1972 has these, they are real old.
I love this little guy, he is fun to chewI love to be read to, mommy and daddy read to me everyday.I love this oily stuff, mommy massages me every night with it.This chair is cool, it makes me sit up like a big boy. I am a big boy now.
This is Sophie the Giraffe, I love her.This is my sun, he has a light show that I watch in my crib. It makes me stop crying. Sometimes.

And lastly these two toys, bark, and lick my fingers, and they chase each other, and they like to lay their heads on me, and I like to grab their fur and pull. That makes them jump so high. It is real funny.Knightley and Kingsley