Tractors, Trucks and Heavy Equipment

Aaron absolutely loves Trucks, Tractors and Equipment (backhoes, excavators, etc.). This is him playing with one of his 'Bigs' on Saturday morning. He calls all forms of trucks Bigs, but then he can tell you what kind of Big it is (Tractor, Grader, etc.). The best is when he sees a fire truck. "What's that?" "BIG!" "What kind of Big?" "Fire truck". Nash Farm, the farm in Grapevine where we have taken him to a few events, had something on Saturday called Tractors, Trucks and Heavy Equipment. Mecca for Aaron. We've had it on our calendar for weeks and he was so excited to go.

We were a little early so we stopped at the Farmer's Market first to get some corn to grill this weekend. You can tell he was not pleased by this delay.

This is him in the car. I asked him what we were about to do and he said, "See BIGS!"

The first Big was a dump truck. We were the first people there so Aaron got some time to check out things before there was a crowd.

Driving the Grader

He crawled right up into this fire truck from the 50s. He loves fire trucks!

Here more people had shown up and it was getting a little crowded...

So we headed over to the new fire truck where Aaron was the only kid. He hung out there for a long time.

He checked it all out and the fire fighter showed him everything and explained how all of the equipment is used.

I found out that one of the fire stations in town has a building connected to it that they rent out for birthday parties. You can have your birthday party there and then go next door for a tour of the fire station. I am thinking about that for one of Aaron's future parties.

We took a tractor ride and Aaron loved it so much that we did it again!

Hanging with Daddy. We were there an hour checking everything out. Aaron would have stayed longer, but Abby was getting hot (it was in the upper 90s here all weekend) and we had seen and touched everything so we headed home.

One last stop...the toy tractors! Aaron loved this!

This was a free event and it was so fun for Aaron. We really enjoyed spending our Saturday morning this way.

Aaron's Week

Aaron had a big week last week. I feel like he is becoming such a Big Boy. For one, he has started using pronouns correctly: "I'll do it/yours is right there/that's mine/give it to him" He is also using more and more full sentences.

For two, on Monday night he asked to sleep in his Big Boy Bed. This was fitting since that day I had told someone that I thought it would be time soon. The funny thing is that though Aaron has a Big Boy bed in his room (it's a full size bed that used to be Papa John's) it has always been there and he's never shown any interest in it. We have been perfectly content to let him stay in his crib since he has never tried to get out and is contained there, so we haven't pushed the bed at all.

We have intended at some point to take the crib down, push the bed up against the wall and put a bed rail on it. But there hasn't been reason to mess with it. On Monday when he asked Jory wasn't here and I wasn't real sure that Aaron would stay in the bed so I thought there was no harm in letting him try it out for a few minutes. I put him in the bed and he was SO proud of himself. I wish I had a picture of that moment. He told me Good Night and waved 'bye' like a Big Boy with such a big, proud smile. I ran downstairs to get the sound monitor (the video monitor is another thing that we intended to hook up in there when it was time for the transition to the bed). I listened intently to that monitor and never heard a single sound. Not even rustling on the sheets. And this is a boy who sings himself to sleep. Nothing. After twenty minutes I ventured into his room and found him sound asleep in the Exact Same Position as I had left him. And he looked so big. When Jory came home and saw him he got tears in his eyes and said, "He's a Big Boy".

We ended up moving him to the crib before we went to bed and continued to do that all week because we do want to have a bed rail on there before he's sleeping there all night. He has gotten much more comfortable and talks and sings himself to sleep like he does in the crib. He doesn't stay in the same position I put him in anymore, but he hasn't fallen out or gotten out.

The first time I put him in the Big Boy Bed for a nap he did get out and he had to take his nap in his crib and he was really upset. I think that cured him of getting out of the bed. He is now taking his naps there just fine. Oh, he is So Big!

Abby's Week

Miss Abby has had a lot going on this week. For one, she has really started rolling. She's not traveling yet, but as soon as you lay her down she flips over. And then she flips back. She's rolling both ways really well. She's also really pushing herself up on her arms. She enjoys her tummy time, for sure. Second, I took her swaddle away starting Monday. She is in a sleep sack. I had tried this a few weeks ago, but her startle reflex was still getting the better of her. She'd fall asleep, but as soon as she startled she would wake up and not be able to get herself back to sleep. This time, after she fell asleep she would stay asleep. I would watch her startling on the video monitor, but it wouldn't wake her up. (Or if it did she put herself back to sleep without fussing). She continued to fall asleep at 7pm and sleep until at least 4 before waking to eat. Then she would eat briefly and go back to sleep until some time between 7 and 8, as she has been. So the swaddle transition went beautifully at night.

The swaddling transition was not smooth during the day. The first two days she cried herself to sleep at all three naps and it was horrible. Once she was asleep she did great, it was just getting there. The third day she didn't cry at all - but she also didn't sleep. That wasn't good, either, but Abby recovers pretty well from a missed nap. She tends to spend the next day sleeping and making it up. So the fourth day was pretty good. Today was day five and we are back to where we were a week ago - 3 naps a day, about 1 1/2 hours each. Whew!

Aaron was swaddled a little longer than Abby but I was having trouble swaddling her. She is a restless sleeper and she would kick her legs out of her swaddle and that would make her really, really mad. She wouldn't go to sleep until you reswaddled her. On Sunday I reswaddled her four times during one nap and I was done. I figured the sleep sack would keep her legs contained and she just had to get used to having her arms out.

She is taking full advantage of that arm freedom. This girl is a Finger Sucker. Not a thumb sucker, but a full-on, four fingers in her mouth, finger sucker. She does it all the time. All The Time. I am thinking I should be doing something about that but I don't know what it is...

Desserts!

Kelly is doing a post today on your favorite desserts! I have several desserts on my Recipe Blog. Of those, I think the Cranberry White Chocolate Bread Pudding is my favorite. And even though this is probably Cranberry overload, the Cranberry Coffee Cake makes a fabulous dessert. But for this post, I will feature my husband's favorite dessert. Sweet Potato Cobbler. I know it sounds weird and he thought it did, too, before he tried it. But this is his absolutely favorite food. In the world.

Sweet Potato Cobbler
Category: Desserts
Sub Category:
Source: GSTSPQ

2 c boiled, peeled sweet potatoes, cut into chunks
1 stick butter
2 c water
2 c sugar
1 ½ c self-rising flour
½ c shortening
1/3 c milk
1 t cinnamon
1 t nutmeg

1. Melt butter in 13x9 pan.

2. Heat water and sugar until sugar melts.

3. Make dough with next three ingredients. Roll into a ¼ in thick rectangle. Sprinkle with cinnamon and nutmeg.

4. Put sweet potatoes on dough, roll it up and pinch ends to seal. Slice roll into 15-20 pieces and put them in pan of butter.

5. Pour sugar syrup over pieces and back 45 minutes at 350.

Note: The rolling of the dough and the subsequent filling, rolling and pinching of the dough never works well for me. I kind of just dump everything into the casserole dish and it all works out just fine.

Wordless Wednesday

Movies, Books and Marriages

The other night Jory and I watched The Bucket List. We actually have Netflix which is our one nod towards televised entertainment. And since we are don't pay for cable, etc., we can justify the fact that sometimes movies (like this one) sit in our home for four months before they get watched. At $10/mo, we paid $40 to 'rent' this movie, but that's not the point. The point is that we both really liked it! And I realized that the last time we both really liked a movie was in 2008...

Of course, I think everyone really liked Fireproof...so good! But have you done The Love Dare?
We have it and I love the concept of doing one small thing a day for your spouse for thirty days. It's simple, but so powerful.

Another book that involves doing one thing a day for your spouse for thirty days is This has thirty prayers to pray over your spouse. I just started it and it is so powerful. I am hosting a Ladies Bible Study in our home starting in June. The woman that volunteered to facilitate it chose this book and I am so blessed by it already. We have fifteen ladies signed up and I can't wait to see what God will do.

Finally...

Jory and I are hosting a Couples Study of Love and Respect weekly throughout the summer. We purchased the DVDs of the Love and Respect Conference and we have Small Group Study Guides to lead us through it. It is divided into fourteen sessions. Jory will be facilitating this one. He has wanted to do something like this for a long time. We have six couples, including us and I think it will be wonderful.

Nursery Woes

We had a first yesterday. Aaron threw a fit when we tried to pick him up from nursery at church. With memories of all the times he threw a fit when we dropped him off still a little raw it's nice that he likes it there, but still a little disturbing when your kid screams and runs away when you show up. I said it was a good thing we had our pick up tag or no one would believe we were his parents. HA! And then there's this precious girl... I have not put her in nursery yet. She comes with us and does just fine. That never worked with Aaron. He stayed with us one time and we missed most of Sunday School and church, so the next week he was in nursery. But Abby does great so there's not a lot of motivation to take her to nursery. Plus I've been using the excuse of cold and flu season, but as we're flirting with June that's probably going to lose its potency. Really, I'm just not ready for her to be sick and I believe the first time in nursery will likely correspond with her first time being sick. But, (1) I am never going to be ready for her to be sick and (2) maybe she won't get sick. And, ummm, (3) she's over three months old and at some point she's gonna have to go.

Saturday

We had a wonderful Saturday! Aaron was completely fever-free and had been since Friday. He was feeling good and eating and drinking normally. Here's what we did:

After breakfast I headed out to meet a girl from Sunday School that I am hosting a Woman's Bible Study with starting soon. We wanted to go over some details. We met at Chick-Fil-A even though we had no kids with us. I think that's funny.

The kids hung out with Daddy. After naps, Aaron and Daddy went for a run while Abby and I hung out. They stopped at the park and Aaron couldn't wait to tell me about the swinging he did. This is his new thing!

In the late afternoon Aaron played in his sprinkler...

and tried to wash Mama's car...

While Abby watched her feet.

After a while Daddy and Aaron started some serious yard work...

and Abby and I went inside to make dinner. Which, by the way, was a scrumptious Enchilada Casserole with Chocolate Cobbler (yes, chocolate cobbler) for dessert. I put the recipes here.

A hot, sweaty mess eating dinner!

After the kids went down Jory and I watched Hotel Rwanda.

We just had a good family day!

What we've been up to lately

I feel like the weeks are flying by. We are just enjoying our babies so much!

Saturday May 14, 2011

Last weekend we went to Main Street Days Festival in downtown Grapevine. We just pushed Aaron in the stroller and carried Abby in the sling. She slept most of the time.

There was a free Kid Zone that was great. There was a Lego station, a small arena to ride small tricycles in, puppet shows and other cool kid stuff. Aaron really enjoyed this part of the festival.

After nap we stopped by to see Grandad and Mimi for a few minutes. You can see Elmo in the background here. When you ask Aaron who lives at this house he says, 'Dawl, Mimi and Elmo.' One time he wanted to go visit and I told him Grandad was at work. He said, 'Mimi might be home with Elmo.' I told Wendy that Aaron thinks she and Elmo just hang out all day!

Sunday May 15, 2011

Just a fun picture I took after church when we were trying to get Aaron into 'play clothes'.

Monday May 16, 2011

We spent the day at Kimmie and Papa's. Aaron had great sandbox time and Papa came home for lunch (and brought Railhead!).

Tuesday May 17, 2011 through Thursday May 19, 2011

We didn't do a whole lot these days, so here are some random pictures.

On Thursday we got a bit of a surprise. Aaron was having a perfectly normal day when he felt warm to me (stop me if you've heard this story before). He had a fever of 104.5! Seriously, does this happen to other people? Your kid is just acting perfectly normal and has an off the charts temperature for no apparent reason? This is the third time! I called the doctor, got the fever down, rotated medicine every four hours, gave him two baths and lots of fluid (which he did not want to drink). On Friday we found out that he had a virus, but not a Fever Virus like the last two. This was some virus with a horrible name that causes a sore throat and fever. I guess his throat looked really bad and the doctor said, 'you're going to have a hard time getting him to drink because it hurts.' Oh. It wasn't Strep, though. It was a virus that goes away on its own in 3-5 days. By Friday afternoon I wasn't haven't any trouble keeping the fever down and he was drinking for me and I was praying Abby wouldn't get it. Here is a picture of them on

Friday May 20, 2011