Happy Sad Birthday, Elliott

So...I'm a horrible mom. I didn't bother with my daughter's 2-year birthday. There was waaaay too much going on that took up her birthday month. How sad that it was other people's birthdays, a baby blessing, things that probably weren't as important but took up my time. Anyways, Elliott's Aunt Candice and Uncle Trevor took her to Build-A-Bear where she got to pick her own animal and "build" it. She had lots of fun! Thanks Candice and Trevor for doing something really fun for Elliott for her birthday!

Half Mer-Baby

I thought I gave birth to a little girl. I may as well have had her in a bath tub cuase she loves the water. I mean LOVES the water. Elliott is not afraid to put her face under the water in the shower or blow bubbles in the bath water. I think she's part mermaid. This is what I can expect whenever we water the flowers...

"Hoot"er Hiders

A mommy must-have when nursing! Here are a couple I made recently for some new mommies. Patrick suggested the owls, so I found special owl fabric to match each of the new mommy's personalities.

 This one I made for my sis-in-law Candice. She reminds me of bright fun colors like these materials. While I was sewing it the leaves were reminding me of pot leaves (short 1 leaf, though) 

and the big-eyed owls do look a little hopped up!

This next one I made for a friend at work who wasn't going to find out what she was having. I wanted the owls on the outside because they are so cute! But the fabric was very boyish. I was afraid she might have a girl so to play it safe I put the owls on the inside. Turns out her sonogram tech ruined the surprise and she's having a boy! So I offered to switch it so the owls were on the outside and she said, "No way!". She wanted her baby boy to be able to peek at the owls while nursing. Glad she loved it!

The Never-Ending Project

I've always wanted to organize my recipes. It's an ongoing process but I finally started it and am pretty happy with the results. I make all the cards on my computer. Now I have all my favorites saved on the computer with cute designs to accompany them. So instead of just adding any recipe to my box, my goal is to try it out first before I type it up. That way I know it's a fave that I'll use again and again instead of collecting random recipes that I never try or holding onto bad ones. When I finished the cards I couldn't find my recipe box because we have so much stuff packed up in storage. I found a small tin flower planter in the dollar section at Target that works out great. I love it!
Here's what I came up with...

Ewanore!

Elliott's other new favorite cousin ,besides baby Megan, is baby Eleanore. Elliott loves her...almost to death. So we have to keep a good eye on her around Eleanore. Patrick is a very proud uncle. She is so cute! 

Good job Trevor and Candice!

Mmmmm...giant pretzels

These are the BEST giant soft pretzels I've ever made! Ok, it's not like I make giant pretzels all the time, but I have made them before and because they haven't turned out as amazing as I expected, I gave up. Then I discovered this recipe, and homemade giant soft pretzels are now everything I've ever dreamed of...try it for yourself.

Auntie Ann’s Pretzels
1 1/2 c. warm water
2 T brown sugar
1 1/8 tsp salt
2 c. bread flour
2 c. all-purpose flour
1 1/8 tsp yeast

2 T baking soda
2 c. warm water

2 T melted butter
coarse salt or
cinnamon & sugar

Dissolve yeast in water. Add sugar & salt, stir to dissolve. Add flour and knead dough until smooth. Let rise 1/2 hour.
Prepare warm water & baking soda, stirring often.
After dough has risen, pull off handfuls and roll into a long rope about 1/2 inch or less thick and shape. Dip pretzel into soda solution & place on a greased baking sheet. Allow pretzel dough to rise once more.
Remove from oven and coat with melted butter and sprinkle with coarse salt, cinnamon & sugar, or any topping your heart desires!
Bake: 10 min. @ 450˚ Makes approx. 8-10 pretzels

Happy Easter!

Holidays are a million times better when you have a kid experiencing them for the first time. Elliott got to hunt for eggs this year and could do it all by herself. It was sooooo cute! She got an Easter egg hunt all to herself at Grandma Debbie's and got to hunt again later at Grandma Roxanne's. It was so much fun with all of the grandkids. Elliott has recently perfected the art of hopping. She would hop her way around the grass to the eggs. She was really in the Easter spirit this year. What a goof!

Naynan!

My sister Katherine had her baby girl on April Fool's day. I went to her house to watch her boys while she was at the hospital and Norman kept asking me if it was a joke that mommy was at the hospital having her baby! It was cute. Megan Ann was 8 lbs. 5 oz. and 19 inches long. She is adorable. Now Elliott's new obsession is babies! She yells, "Naynan! Naynan seeping!" because Megan was sleeping almost the whole day while we were with her. I can't wait to have another one so she can be an amazing big sister.

A Day at the Zoooooo

My sister Amber took me and Elliott to the L.A. Zoo today.
It was awesome!
Here's Elliott getting her first lesson on the birds and the bees...you naughty little meerkats.

Here's our lunch break at the park

Nixon, Elliott, and Braedyn croc hunting. (Australian accent) They caught one! Crikey!

At this point in the day I know exactly how this guy feels

Cake Connaisseur

I help my mom decorate a lot of cakes for weddings or other celebrations. I have to admit, it's not my favorite thing to do because it can be pretty messy and painful. Yes, it hurts squeezing tubes of icing for a long time. Luckily my mom does what I think are the hard parts: baking and icing. But it's something I get to do with my mom. Gives us some quality time and we make a good team! Here are a few samples:

Barbie was for my sister-in-law's baby shower. I know right? Who has a Barbie cake at a baby shower?!...Candice!

This one was for my baby shower for Elliott.


These cakes were for a wedding. It was very Asian-themed.

Thanks for the talent, Mom!

Love is in the Air!

Elliott with her BFF Tucker. I'm actually struggling to type this because I'm wrestling Elliott off of the keyboard so she doesn't tackle the screen to get to these pics of Tucker.

Finally, the real Christmas!

We love Christmas Eve at Katherine's, especially eating the frosting for the gingerbread men!

Me and my sisters put together these silhouettes of all the grandkids for my mom's present. It turned out so cute!

Brent and JC brought their dog over on Christmas, Elliott was entertained all morning chasing Ponchito around. (The video wouldn't upload, but its soooo cute!)