Easter weekend

We had a great Easter weekend. Friday, we dyed eggs. Little guy was not happy when we were finished and there were no more eggs to color. Big tears!

Blue and green were the colors of choice this year!

That night my dad joined us for the Good Friday service at our church. Since it was a special occasion, C sat in the service with us. He did great and really liked listening (and dancing) to the worship music. He's such a music lover! After church we met up with my dad's wife and her daughter for some fro-yo. C also got some Easter goodies from them! He loves his new chicken and plane camera

Saturday we headed to Dallas for our nieces 2nd birthday party at the park. It was a beautiful day and he sure loved running around and playing with his cousin and friends!

Sunday morning he got his Easter basket of goodies. He's really into trains right now so the new Thomas cup and fork/spoon set were the hits. He also got some flip flops, Noah and baby Jesus board books, suckers, stickers and sidewalk chalk. 

Our little stud in his Easter duds, black eye (he had a fight with the coffee table) and Thomas cup that he wouldn't put down!

We met my mom and hubby's family for church at our old church. We had C sit in the service with us again and he slept through the whole thing.

(He was starting to not feel good. 2nd Easter in a row that he's been sick.)The church was taking family pics after the service, so the different families took those before heading over to my in-laws for lunch. 

C wouldn't nap (2nd day in a row) and barely ate because he wasn't feeling well. That didn't stop him from having some fun. His CeCe gave him some Easter goodies too!

After his cousin woke from her nap, we had an egg hunt in the greenbelt by their house and some play time at the park. 

We missed you M&M!!

It was a busy and great weekend celebrating the resurrection of our Savior. 

First trip to the Zoo

My dad and his wife gave us zoo memeberships for Christmas. C is such an animal lover, I knew he was going to love it!

It did not disappoint! He loved making the animal noises when we saw each animal. He even said "rhino" when we walked up to their exhibit. We had no clue he knew what a rhino was! We ate lunch where there are large tanks and fish and alligators/crocs can come up to the window. He that it was so cool he could stand right up next to the croc. I think our family will really get some great use and enjoyment out of the zoo this year! 

      Making monkey sounds

Eating lunch with the croc "ayagator"

He even got cookies'n cream for the first time!

A Book review: 101 Bible Stories from Creation to Revelation

101 Bible Stories from Creation to Revelation
Illustrated by Dan Andreasen

This book shares short, one page stories of all of the important events in the Bible, from Creation to Jesus coming back. Each story has a beautiful illustration with it. It's  easy to read and understand grasp on each event and even though my 2 year old doesn't quite understand, it's short enough that he pays attention to it as I'm reading and then we discuss the picture and what we see.

It's a great refresher for parents and a wonderful teaching tool for children. I think it will be great when he learns to read and as he gets older, we can refer to the scripture I the Bible so he can start to grasp the actual Bible. One I highly recommend and plan on giving as gifts in the future!


 BookLook Bloggers and HarperCollinsChristianPublishing has provided me with a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

18-21 months

This time frame has been such a fun few months. You are developing at a high speed and it seems like something new comes out of your mouth every day! You also repeat everything that we say. I learned that the hard way saying "oh, crap!" When I dropped something and you said it too. Oops!

 You're very independent but want to know we are right there. We love when you take our hands and lead us to where you want us to be. On the flip side when you're outside and want to walk and run you don't want to hold our hands and say "no" taking your hand from ours. 

You love to run and be outside. In fact, when we come in from being out, you make it known that you aren't happy about it. You are observant and name things that you hear- birds, puppies, bus, motorcycles, cars, big trucks, airplanes, choo-choo trains.  Your daddy taught you how to say "all aboard!" So when you see or hear a train, you say that! It's really cute. 

You can count to 10 in English and Spanish, with little guidance from us, but mostly on your own. You know when you have 2 things in your hands and tell us "two" or "dos" depending on your mood. You can repeat the ABCs and know that certain letters come after each other. Your vocabulary amazes me and I just hope you continue to love to learn new things. 

You are potty training at your own pace. You went for the first time on January 21st!! We didn't expect you to be interested but you are and have done so, so well. We will be pushing it a little harder this month since you truly get it. Those stickers as rewards sure get you excited:)

You are a big eater, but are not fond of veggies  unless it's juiced or in a smoothie. I'm hoping this changes soon. Fruits, you love and could live off! 

Your favorite books are Dr. Seuss' ABCs and Brown Bear. You also love these crayon books that have a bunch of items in a particular color. You love to be asked to find something in them. Your favorite shows on TV are Chuggington and Mickey Mouse clubhouse. You're also really into stickers. 

Some of the songs you like us to sing are Jesus loves me, the wheels on the bus and the Itsy bitsy spider. 

You love other people and are so very friendly to everyone you see and meet. You say "friends...fun" when we go to mom to mom or church.  I think one of the things that gets to me the most is when you ask to hold our hands and say "prayer". Many times you want to pray a good 3 or 4 times in a row. I hope you continue wanting to pray constantly. 

You bring us such joy and laughter. We love you and though we don't want you to grow up, each stage is wonderful!

December 2013 recap

December was a crazy month! My mom had her second knee replacement so C and I stayed 4 nights with her, lots of Christmas activities, my brother and his wife moved to Lubbock, dinner and light looking with friends and of course- Christmas! We drug Christmas out a couple of weeks. My bro and his wife spent Christmas week with her family, so we had Christmas with the hubby's side and Christmas Eve with my dad's extended family then, celebrated with both mom and dad's sides the first weekend in January when M&M came in town.

Fall and Thanksgiving 2013

I've really dropped the ball keeping this blog updated. It makes me sad because I love looking back and seeing what all went on in our lives.

Fall/Thanksgiving seems like forever ago. We had fun taking C to the State Fair- seeing Big Tex, Eating yummy foods, and C riding his first rides. We also went to our neighborhood fall festival, our former church in Dallas had one too that we went to, our traditional pumpkin patching with our dear friends, Trick or treating with more dear friends, and enjoying lots of good family time.

We had a wonderful fall season!

A Book Review: Godnight, Angels.

Goodnight, Angels

 by Melody Carlson and Illustrated by Sophie Allsopp

 

This children's book is about a boy saying goodnight to all parts of his day. From little things that often go unnoticed or appreciated by adults, to parts of his night-time routine, to saying goodnight to the members of his family and ending with a prayer.

 

My 21 month old loves it! He asks us to read it and I think at this age, the words don't necessarily get to him as the pictures do. It's beautifully illustrated and there are a lot of details that he points out and names. I think it's a very relatable story to read and talk about with a child to discuss the days happenings and is a way to prepare them for bed-seeing it played out in a book.

I think it is a great book for ages 1.5- up and would recommend it to families with small children.

HarperCollins Christian  publisher has provided me with a complimentary copy of this book or advanced reading copy through BookLook Bloggers in exchange for an honest review.

On Catching up and a Merry Christmas...

Oh little blog, I'm sorry for the hiatus and plan on updating with Halloween, Thanksgiving and 18 month happenings and Christmas {among other things} soon. But for now, I'll wish you all a Merry Christmas and a happy new year! I may just reappear after the new year.

For now, I leave you with our Christmas card that I never had printed and mailed out and our Santa pic this year. 

He loves Santa. Yells his name with that happy, high pitched, sweet little voice; he just doesn't want to get too close! Haha

Merry Christmas, friends! Wishing you and yours a blessed holiday season. 

Apple Crisp

So here it is! I Finally took the time to type out our favorite fall dessert- Apple Crisp!I just made a couple of minor changes to a recipe to suit our tastes. As with my apple butter, we prefer Granny Smith apples to other types. 

 

 

Apple Crisp  

6 cups granny smith apples peeled, sliced and cut into 1/2 inch chunks (I usually just use 5-6 apples)
3/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Crumb Topping

1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 tsp cinnamon
3 Tablespoons of butter

Preheat oven to 375. Grease 9 inch pie plate. 

In a large bowl stir together sugar, flour, cinnamon and nutmeg. Add apple chunks and toss until coated.

Transfer apple mixture to pie plate and top with crumb mixture. 

To make topping: stir together flour, brown sugar and cinnamon. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.  

Cover with foil and bake covered for 40 minutes, then uncovered for an additional 20 minutes, until filling is bubbly. 

Enjoy!

 

FREE MyMemories Software

My friends at My Memories contacted me to let me know that from now until October 28, my sweet readers can download the My Memories Suite 4 Software for FREE!!  That's right! You have a few days to download the software and its yours to keep! 

Just enter this code in the Promo Code field before check out: FreeTreatLO43


I've had fun playing with my software and created C's First birthday invite, my fall bucket list printable, a quick girls night invite and a few other things. The possibilities are endless!

Enjoy! Don't forget, you have until Ocrober 28th!