Grills and spas

We finally got Jared's birthday present in! Spent the early afternoon setting it up! Cache helped by playing in the yard and eating Cheetos and Avelyn got to play in the deck and try to eat parts of the grill ;).

I also got to spend the afternoon at the spa with a friend getting massages and facials! Awesome day! I even got to go to dinner afterwards and come home to my awesome family! Jared took the kids to the park and Avelyn might have ingested a wood chip or two! Lol love them!

Sunny Days, Chasing the Clouds away!

You wouldn't know that just 3 days ago we were hit with 6 inches of snow. I think that we have had more winter weather in April than we had all winter! It has been quite frustrating for our little man. Cache has been finding creative ways to keep busy. I posted this on facebook as well, but here it is again. Note to self: If you can't find it, it's probably in Cache's playhouse! At the time I was looking for the TV remote and baby monitor. I found shoes, empty milk bottles, reciepts, dish towels, books, toys, popcorn bucket among other things, but not the remote and monitor! I'm just glad that's all I found in there. Although, while making lunch, Cache brought me a "present" he found tucked back behind the filing cabinet...a piece of banana from...who knows when...ewww...

But we did get to go out and ride his bike and push Avelyn in the stroller while we went to the grocery store and post office! I've been trying to teach him about watching out for cars. As we are crossing an intersection he sees a truck coming down the road and of course, Cache stops in the middle of the road and points at the truck and says, "Car! Watch out!" The only thing I could do was laugh and tell him to not stop in the middle of the road and to keep going! But at least he's getting the concept. :) He's gotten fast enough that I can't keep up while walking! Go Cache! It was so nice to get out of the house. It's supposed to be even better this weekend!

One the note of the sausage I spoke of in the last post...I found it. On top of the freezer in the garage. That's right. It didn't make it even 2 feet out of the freezer and I still couldn't find it. *sigh* What's even more annoying is that I keep loosing things! The sausage was my fault, but the TV remote and monitor were in Cache's hands when I left for Zumba last night. But guess what...I finally found them! Apparently our couch is hoarding things as well. I found that they both had been swallowed to the very back of the middle seat! Now, I had already checked ALL the cushions many times before, but when I looked behind the couch and saw a bulge...woo hoo!! And my luck increased when I pulled them both out! *happy dance!* It's really unnerving when I can't find things I KNOW are here.

Also, on April 30th, we will be taking Cache to an eye doctor to see if he has something to say about his slightly crossed left eye. It's been persistant since his Ataxia and we want to know if there is anything wrong or something we can do to help him now rather than wait until it gets worse.

Now for some pictures!

Avelyn playing with teddy bear and blocks

gluten free french bread! Tastes better same day...

Avelyn was trying to get Cache, but he was quick and got away! But she took over the seat! And snuggled down :)

 And just because I was looking at old pictures, I thought I'd throw in a comparison. These pictures of Cache were taken while moving out to South Dakota when he was about 9 months old.

And Avelyn at 7 months!

Love to All! I think we will celebrate the sunshine with burgers, watermellon, and homemade ice cream! And these awesome sounding chips that I found at the store called roasted garlic and seasalt! Yum!

Too much at once...

Once there was a mommy who had a dream of making a chocolate lasagna like the one Olive Garden used to have. She gathered all her supplies and even sought out two new spring form pans! But being a busy mom, she just couldn't find the right time to tackle this task.

Low and behold, there came a time when the mommy's husband, Daddy was to have his 30th birthday! And to add to the occasion, her brother was hosting his annual lasagna-off and she wanted to submit her chocolate lasagna! (By picture of course since they are so far apart). At last, the time had come to have her chocolate lasagna adventure! She never could have known the chaos that was to ensue...

Mommy should have known not to plan too much at once. But because she wanted to make Daddy's birthday special, she thought it would be nice to have not one, but two lasagna's! One for the meal and one for desert! Of course, this means that an extra special mini lasagna would have to be made for an extra special boy who couldn't eat gluten. So THREE lasagna's for dinner! No problem...

Luckily for Mommy the special little boy was napping, but special little girl was bright eyes and bushy tailed! This little girl was being so cuddly and good, as long as she was held...sigh. Ok, she could do it all! Even while holding a baby!

The recipe was coming together nicely, and things were looking good. Until...wait...5 1/2 cups of sugar? TWELVE EGGS! How big was this chocolate lasagna supposed to be?! But she carried on, adding things slowly as her stand mixer started to protest a little more after each egg and cup of dry ingredients...until it started to spit it out! With each turn of the mixing paddle a little more powder would go flying! What is she to do?! Mommy decided it was best to go EVEN MORE SLOWLY on adding ingredients. This is fine except for the protesting baby in her arms. What is a mommy to do? Oh yes! Food! Special little girl is now enjoying her lovingly cut up berries. This equals about 10 minutes of peace for Mommy...as the paddle whirls on.

Two strawberries and many cups of mix later, the cake batter was finally done! Into the prepared cake pans it went (all 3 springform pans) and into the oven! Mommy felt so proud and relieved that this forever task was done and the cake was finally cooking! Time to clean up! Dishes and counters and flour and eggs....oh no! There are still two eggs left!!!! Mommy forgot two eggs! It's only been 4 minutes...it'll be ok, right?

So out come the cakes. Back into the bowl where the stray eggs are mixed in and all ingredients are double checked. Sigh. Back into the oven. Oh, but wait! Dinner still needs to be made! And frosting! Yikes! It's 5 o'clock and special little girl needs a nap! And special little boy is waking up! Arg!

Mommy reads ahead for the frosting recipe...12 cups of powdered sugar?! I guess Mommy needed to read the whole recipe before biting off more than she could chew. But it's chocolate lasagna, who was she to question it?

After special girl was sleeping and special boy had a snack and a show, the craziness continued. Now, where did mommy put that sausage for the dinner lasagna? Nope, not in the fridge...or kitchen...or bathroom. Hmmm....that's strange. Being that its almost 6 o'clock, another pack of sausage was opened and cooked. Regular lasagna was much easier and familiar. Mommy even had the genius idea to use her new mini loaf pan to make a personal size, gluten free lasagna for special little man! Score! Feeling good!

Now to make those cakes into chocolate lasagna! Hmmm, that recipe sure made a lot of cake...guess mommy will cut those into half and save the rest for later. A little while later and viola! Chocolate lasagna! She is quite aware that it looks just like layered chocolate cake, but it's not. It's chocolate lasagna. That's what the recipe said. That's what it was. :)

So many, many, MANY dishes, snacks and tears later, Daddy had his birthday celebration! Happy birthday daddy! Mommy loves you! You're worth all the frustration and stress!

Now to find that sausage...hmmm...???

Chasing "bwy's"

I just love that my little boy gets so much joy out of the simple things like chasing "bwy's". He still has trouble with "f" and "l" sounds, so fly sounds like "bwy". He is always so excited to point out a fly on the ceiling, wall or floor. He always asks to run and get the "zapper!"

Daddy is always so obliging in letting Cache help get the flies. :)

And, my favorite guys rubbing my feet! :)

Such a big helper :)

Cupcakes and Kiddos

The weather is so nice today! It's supposed to be 71! Happy birthday to me! Today I decided that I wasn't going to do any dishes or laundrey, but then I remembered I had planned to make cupcakes and that threw out the idea of no dishes given how little counterspace I have. But that makes me thankful for the new faucet that we have that makes dishes much easier! Some how new things make some tasks more tolerable. :)

These were an experiment I did with King Aurthur brand yellow cake mix. It actually turned out pretty good! They were tastey, but I don't know how it would taste in a cake. But cupcakes are good! The aftertaste is kind of like a sweet corn bread, but it doesn't taste a thing like cornbread when you are eating it. And we had cream cheese frosting! Mmmm! Makes me feel a little less guilty about eating frosting when there's something "healthy" like cheese in it ;)

I look terrible...but this is right after putting the cupcakes in the oven!

Ok, so these totally look like snickerdoodle cupcakes! But they're not... :)

Avelyn needed something to do while we frosted cupcakes, so she got one of her own! Notice her cute pink tutu from Ggma!

Pictures!

Baby loves!

I'm suppose to do what?

Oh! Ok...like this?

Mmm... :)

Avelyn: 1, Cupcake: 0 :)

Cache was a big helper and he loves to help in the kitchen. He cracked the eggs, poured the milk and stired the bowl! He put in the cupcake holders and did a taste test! What a kid! He ended up licking all the frosting off and taking two bites of cupcake, but I'm just glad he was able to do that! :)

Hugs from all of us!

Easter morning

I just love that my kids are old enough to enjoy things like opening presents and playing with new toys. It's so fun to see the excitement on their faces. Of course, Avelyn is always just excited to see a happy face, but I'll take the smiles either way. :) Cache is getting so big it's crazy :)
The Easter bunny visited our house again and left the kids treats in their baskets! Jared and I got some chocolate eggs. Yum! Avelyn even got to have her own pancake this morning! She just demolished it. I think I got a kid who doesn't care if she has food everywhere. I guess she takes after her uncle Brandi!
Cache would seem to be doing better today than yesterday. He got a good nights sleep and then a 3 hour nap today so I'm hoping he recovers quickly. We had fun at church and Avelyn even let me teach the lesson while she played with the ladies. Enjoy the pictures!

Hairbows of every color, Pat the Bunny book, peach yogurt melts and tinkerbell bubbles!

Suckers, stickers, play-doh eggs, toy story bubbles and freeze dried peaches!

Avelyn was all about getting into the baskets! Cache was still waking up...

Ok, we are more awake now! Daddy, open my "boo (blue) egg" :)

Mini pancake!

Yum!

Love my new eggs!

I had to get under the table to clean up some of Cache's milk that Avelyn spilled while trying to get to his basket. This is what I saw. Cute kid feet!

Showing off her new hair bow! And dress!

Cache is trying to get Avelyn to pay attention to pictures. Tried to turn her head. :)

Cache wanted the bow in his hair :) And Daddy was distracting them. :)

Cache is telling us about how he hit his nose earlier.

Yes, he is at church without socks or shoes...he started out with them on...

Leo, Avelyn and Cache...it was hard to get them all to cooperate

Whenever another kid is crying, Avelyn just stares at them. Especially when it's Cache. And Cache apparently just ignores them. :)