Give Peas a Chance

Kinda makes you wish you got to eat pureed peas for lunch, too, huh?

I Heart Toile

I made some valences for the breakfast room. I have a slight obsession with toile. I have it pretty much under control--just little hints here and there. From far away, the valences look fine, but I'm kind of a hack on the sewing machine, so it's better not to get to close to examine my handiwork. Nevertheless, here they are. I like them.




Martha would be proud.

Cupcake Update

After a very long and frustrating night, I am pleased to report that the Lord was willing that there be cupcakes at the shower. I finished these at around 1:30am on Sunday morning. And my amazingly wonderful husband told me to go to bed and he cleaned up the horrendous mess that I made throughout the course of the night. He is the best!

The shower was really nice and I think the cupckes tasted OK, too. Rachel's little girl seemed to think so.

Cupcake Trouble

Tomorrow I am hosting a baby shower for a friend at my house. We are decorating with the colors pink and brown so I thought it would be terribly cute to make some chocolate cupcakes with pink frosting.

So tonight, I began the process of preparing them. Since I am using a mix, I assume this will be a fairly quick little project. But this is me we're taking about. In a kitchen. The place where what should be and what is never seem to meet.

I preheat, I gather ingredients, I begin to mix with my sweet red KitchenAid. I add the mix, the butter, the water and the eggs. The batter seems really runny, but it's been a while since I've made a cake, so I just figure this is how it is supposed to be. I pour the batter into the cupcake liners, a little troubled by the lack of viscosity, but I proceed. They baked, but they never really expanded. And they looked really weird. I tasted one after they came out and something was just not right.





In my kitchenly wisdom, I surmise that it must have been the attachment I was using on the mixer. I used the white, paddle-with-holes looking thing and I should have used the whisk looking thing. So I'm on to the second box. Round 2. Ding ding.

I begin mixing the second batch. In goes the mix, eggs, and butter. Yes...this looks better--much thicker! Wait! Too thick. Oops! Forgot the water.

So as I'm filling the measuring cup with water, it hits me. I put in waaaaayyyy more last time. I realize that instead of 3/4 c. I put in 1 3/4 c. It seems these directions accompanied by the "for-morons-who-can't-or-won't-read" pictures just weren't specific enough.




So now I have cake batter that is the consistency of mousse because I've been beating the heck out of it with my wire whisk rotating at the speed of light. But it tasted better. So I fill the liners again, careful not to put in too much.

Do you know what happend to cake mix that has been whisked for 5 minutes on medium speed after it has baked?


This. That's not a cookie sheet, my friend. That's a muffin tin. There is so much air in these things that I can literally hear the bubbles popping. So I try to carefully remove them, hoping against hope that I can salvage a few.


Not so much. So an hour later, this is what I have to show for all of my effort.





So now, I am waiting for my sweet husband to bring me more mix and eggs, because what I lack in skill, I make up for in tenacity. I WILL have pink and brown cupcakes for tomorrow, Lord willing, which He may very well not be judging by what has occurred.

Oh, yeah...and I burnt my finger on the oven on the same hand that I have nearly severed a finger and gashed the knuckle. Guess my hand modeling career is over.


Thankfully, my little sack of sugar loves me anyway.

I will post about something other than Asher...

...but not today. He's 7 months old today! Can you believe it! Here are some pics of my big boy:

Asher enjoying his front row seat



He loves watching Daddy play!



Another cute outfit (I may post a tutorial on how to turn onesies into t-shirts--it's a little complicated, but it makes a very bold statement.)



Catching up on a little reading.



I'd tell you where the green sheep is, but I'd hate to ruin it for you. It's a page turner--I'll just leave it at that.

And here is Asher having some fun in the Johnny Jump-Up. He loves it! Thanks for letting him borrow it, Lilly!

Clean AND Cute! (please see clarification below)

Asher had his first bath in the big bath tub. My friend Hilary gave me a seat for the bath, but I haven't been able to get it yet, so we just used the bath mat and the little foam thing you use when they are newborns. He really liked splashing around. I definitely think we have a little waterbug on our hands.







We took these yesterday after church. He looks like such a big boy! I love this outfit on him but I don't think I'm going to get away with dressing him like this too much longer. Kris feels that clothes like this ensure getting beaten up. I think there is nothing cuter than a flat front pant and a cute little oxford. Clarification: After reading some of the comments, I feel the need to clarify, lest anyone think that Kris has a problem with flat front pants and/or oxfords. I was referring more to the color of the pants than the style when I made my "get beaten up" statement. Both my boys are flat front, button-up kind of guys. (I like to think I rescued Kris from the terrible world of pleats.) In fact, that's pretty much all there is if you're a guy :) I just meant that light blue Ralph Lauren chinos will probably not be a staple in his wardbrobe in the years to come. But nice masculine flat front khakis will.

Silver and Gold

Did you ever sing that little song, "Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver and the other gold."

Well, we have had some major fun with friends lately...old and new (as old of frineds as a 7 month old can have!)


Josiah, Tye, and Asher hung out yesterday. There may come a day when we don't take their pictures each time they get together, but I don't think that will be anytime soon. It's just so fun to see them growing up!







Josiah's mom got some great video of the photo session that you can view here.


Also. a few days ago, we went swimming with two of my friends from school, Mandy and Becca. Asher got to meet Mandy's little boy, Carson. They had big fun splashing in the water and checking out eachother's hats that their moms made them wear. Becca's little girl, Kendall, is due in October so she will be swimming with the boys next summer!

On the Go

Asher is not crawling yet. But leave it to my own personal Baby Einstein to figure out a way to get around--one that does not require him to be on his tummy. He started out on his little play mat and this is where he ended up--



He looks guilty, doesn't he?



And no, his hair is NOT red (not that there's anything wrong with that.)

The Underappreciated Literary Device: Bullet Points

--Kris' first day of school was yesterday. He said that it went really well for a first day. He said his roughest class was the kindergarteners. Picture 80-90 five year olds on their first day in a big (to them) school. He only had 2 criers and I think they both dried it up before the class ended, so that was pretty good. Overall, I think Coach Rives' first day on the job went well.

--I LOVE that I am at home with Asher and not in a classroom full of crazy children! I always hated those first few weeks of school. Several people have asked if I miss it. First I try to ascertain if they are kidding with me and then when I realize they are sincerely wondering if I miss the mayhem that is public education, I, with as little sarcasm as I can manage, assure them that I am right where I want to be.

--We went to Mamaw and Poppy's house this weekend. Kris had to work at Second all weekend so we headed off to spend a little QT with the grandparents. Here is a picture of Asher enjoying some delicious butternut squash in the very same high chair that my brother and I used.



--So we all know that Asher is a bit of a weird sleeper. The whole "dumbo" on the head thing, jamming himself into a corner, flipping yet unable to re-flip, etc. But last night I went and checked on him and this is what I found:



I promptly extracted him from the bumper and put him back in the middle of the bed. Honestly, I don't know how he sleeps like that.

--We finished painting our kitchen and breakfast room. It was quite the ordeal. The first color we got was "buttercream" which looked like a great shade of really pale, creamy yellow. We get it on the walls and realize it is canary-freakin-yellow. It looked awful. So we prime and repaint. The rooms are now the color that I want them to be. I will post pictures but first I want to get up the curtains that I am in the process of making. I want you to get the full effect.

There you have it. Enjoy.

The Pajamas

I bought these pajamas for Asher right after I found out I was having a boy. The shirt has a set of headphones on it and the bottoms are covered in little cassette tapes--so cute! It seemed like forever until he would be here and big enough to wear them. Then we brought home a little, not quite 5 lb. runt and I saw these pajamas in his closet and it really seemed like it would be forever until he wore them.

And now he is wearing them. And that, as I am learning, is life summed up. "Hurry up and get here!" is quickly replaced by "Remember when...."

So I'm reminded to enjoy this time of wobbly sitting and toothless grins and one-sided conversations and when I am tempted to long for the next big milestone to occur, I will stop and think about how sweet it is to be exactly where we are... and also about these pajamas.



ps--Asher updated his blog :)

Hilarious

Maybe it was the tickling? Or maybe it was the weird noises I was making?

Either way, here is a video of Asher laughing. His laugh is really funny--kind of a cross between a grunt and a giggle and a shreik. And after he laughs, he just stops, like nothing funny ever happened. Please excuse not only my weird noises, but the shaky camera work. If you are prone to motion sickness, you may want to skip this one.




And here is a basket full of sweet baby.

Ok, so now I'm "Crazy Updating Girl"

After bemoaning my inconsistent posting, here I go posting again after less than 24 hours. But I wanted to put these pictures up because Asher is so stinkin cute I can hardly stand it.


We went to the splashpad this morning on Market Street with Kelli, Riley, and Fisher. Asher had fun watching but then it got unbearably hot, so we left! I know next summer he will have a blast there!



He's having the time of his life. Can you tell?


Asher is making his "popeye" face here...not sure why though.


Fisher wearing his cute lobster swim trunks


Riley's cute hairdo


Doesn't he look SO big in his stroller! When did that happen? Pretty soon I'm going to have to stop using the sippy cup holder for my beverages!

Speaking of getting big, do you think it might be time to move to a bigger bath tub?


All clean!

Ugh. The blog.

So now I have one more thing in my life to feel guilty about not keeping up with. It has joined the ranks of coupon clipping, laundry, and exercise. The blog. It's really fun, but then you let a few days pass and you keep thinking that something really interesting may happen that you can write about, and then it doesn't, so a few more days go by, then you feel that since so much time has passed, your next entry better be stellar, but you know it won't be, so you don't post. Then you do post ,and what you get is the post that follows...

So be forewarned. I got nothin' folks. But it's time to post.






So, I got my hair cut.


I can tell I am a mom now, because the part I like best about it is that is takes so little time to blow dry. So on the days that I actually bother to fix it, it is dry in no time.

Here's the "pushed behind the ears" version


I took both of these pictures of myself, which is a little weird, but I never remember to ask Kris to take a picture of the new "do" when he is home, so I resorted to "DIY." If I could have been a little farther away, or if my arms were a little longer, the pictures would be better, but oh well. They are a little too up close and personal, and reveal maybe a little too much detail, but self-photography is hard!

What else...what else...

I know! I'll talk about Asher.




He's doing great. His new way of getting around is to scoot on his back. He has found a way to be mobile without having to be on his tummy. Brilliant. It's really funny watching him do this, too. Still no rolling back from his tummy, though.

I'm sick of doing the South Beach Diet. But I'm not one of "those" girls, so my lot in life is either calorie restriction or full-time living in maternity clothes. The former sounds only mildly more appealing than the latter, so that's what I do. And I was doing great about exercising every day, but then Asher decided to change up his morning routine, without consulting me I might add, and I just haven't been able to find my groove again. Maybe it will show up again. I hate it when grooves do that.

Oh! I just remembered something that is a huge deal and very blog-worthy! Kris got a new job! He is the new PE teacher at an elementary school here on the north side of town. We are so thankful! Over 200 applications were submitted for this position. PE jobs at elementary schools are highly coveted and pretty hard to get, so the fact that he got one is amazing and total evidence of God's sovereignty over all things. So now he is closer to home and will have so much more time to be with us!

I think that's it for now. I gotta go clip coupons, do some laundry, and bust out the Pilates DVD.

My 6 Month Old!

Asher turned 6 months old yesterday. A whole half of a year! Crazy!

In this shot, he is demonstrating his newest trick, the "almost" sitting position. The trick that I am really ready for, however, is the "roll from tummy to back" move because that means that he would not need me to come flip him during the night. I am convinced he would go back to sleeping through the night if he could just master this one skill. Last night required a total of 3 flips. But sooner or later (hopefully sooner) he will get it down and then I will get to sleep through the night and then something else will change because that is apparently the way this motherhood thing works.