Florida Trip (week 1)

We made it to Florida!!! (on Friday) It was a pretty easy trip, we left at 5:30am and we were here by lunch. The weather is amazing! Mid 80s every day, just warm enough to enjoy the beach and pool, but not too hot. We haven't made it out to the beach yet. I'm a little nervous about taking Eli since he's so young, but Michelle has a tent we're going to set up for him to hang out in. Honestly it's more the thought of carrying all the necessary items out there and back..... can you say stressful?!? Anyway, the plan is to go out there on Friday. There is a shuttle launch, so we're going to watch it from the beach. It will be the 3rd launch I've seen here, so sad that they are shutting down the space center.

Michelle's neighbors have a pool so we've spent a lot of time over there swimming, and Sophia is doing so good! She was a little scared at first, but Michelle and Andrew helped her learn how to float with her floaties on, and kick her feet to move. By the end of the first day she was doing it all by herself. We went back today and I was thinking she might need some time to warm up to the idea of swimming alone again, but she was trying to get in without her floaties right away! She got back in and swam all the way out to the deep end and back about 100 times! I'm sure she will be sleeping well tonight, that's the best part about swimming!
Here are some pictures of her learning how. She was so proud and kept screaming "I'm a swimmer!!!!"

 And this picture is just too cute of her with all of the floats.

 

Eli didn't get in the pool, but I put him in his swim suit anyway. it was just too adorable not to :)

(excuse the poor picture quality, it was taken on my phone)

Sunday was Easter, so we went to church and then headed over to a potluck lunch with some of my sister's friends. It was a great service! And of course I got a picture of all the kids dressed in their Easter outfits. It's also the very first picture of all 4 of them together (since Eli was born)

It's been a great trip so far, I'll post more along the way.

GA Bound

So on Monday morning we got up early and took Eli to the doctor for his follow up (for having RSV) and to get his 2 month shots. His lungs sound clear and he seems much better, so they were able to give him the vaccines. He did pretty well getting them, he screamed while they did it, but was ok once I picked him up.

Then we went home to load up the car and head to GA! We finally got on the road around 9:30 am. I was so tired, but looking forward to the trip. I know I'm weird, but I love a good road trip. Even if it's just me and the kids.

{Here are Sophia and Eli all packed up and ready to go}

So off we go, Sophia has her movie on and Eli is fed, dry, and fast asleep; even Willie is happy in the front seat (yes, Willie made the trip with us) We made it about 3 hours before we had to stop for lunch. We decided to pack our lunch and have a picnic at a rest area to save some money since these gas prices are OUTRAGEOUS! Sophia thought it was so cool to have a picnic in the middle of our trip though. She even made friends with a couple and their black lab while we were there. She then informed me, with arms stretched out as far as they could go, that she now wants a "great BIG doggy mommy!!!" And I quickly informed her that we would not be getting a dog any time soon. It was such a nice day though, I really enjoyed taking a break to sit outside in the fresh air.

 {Here are a couple of pictures of the kids at our picnic}

After an hour break for lunch, we packed up and headed on our way to GA. They both fell asleep, so I had a few quiet hours on the road. I love that part of a long trip, where you just get in the zone and drive, it really clears my head. We finally made it to GA around 9 pm. So about 11 1/2 hours total, which isn't too bad compared to the drive I used to make between Waukegan, IL and Stockbridge, GA. Sophia was so happy to finally see her Mimi and Pops. We even went and had dinner with Lori and Greg last night, which was really exciting for Sophia. She loves her family so much!

{Mimi and Pops with the kids when they came to visit in February}

{at dinner with Lori and Greg}

We'll only be here until Friday and then we are headed to FL to visit my sister for a few weeks. I'm really excited to spend some time with her family, it's been a long time since the kids have all been together. Sophia is really looking forward to seeing her cousins.

{Sophia with her cousins, Micah and Isaiah, last time she saw them}


On a side note, Eli is 10 weeks old now! I can't believe it, he's already changed so much since he was born.  Here he is on his first morning at Mimi and Pops' house.

Oatmeal Cookies and Oreo Cupcakes

So for Christmas this past year my wonderful inlaws got me a KitchenAid stand mixer! I am so in love with it, and I've been baking like crazy just to have an excuse to use it. I'm currently trying to lose baby weight though, so I send most of the goodies with Derek to take to his shop :)

Earlier this week we were invited to dinner at the Burton's (Brad and Bea) so of course I offered to bring dessert so I could use my mixer again. I looked through my KitchenAid Baking cookbook and decided on oatmeal raisin cookies. I was pretty impressed with myself for having every single ingredient needed on hand; I'm so domestic these days, ha!

Anyway, here is a picture of the delicious cookies: 

Tomorrow is Derek's birthday, so I let him go through the book and pick out a cake and he decided on Cookies and Cream Cupcakes. And for anyone who knows me, you know I LOVE Oreos! So of course I had no problem whipping these up for the occasion. Here is the recipe for any of you who wanted it:

2 1/4   cups all-purpose flour
      1   tablespoon baking powder
   1/2   teaspoon salt
1 2/3   cups sugar
      1   cup milk
   1/2   cup (1 Stick) butter, softened
      2   teaspoons vanilla
      3   egg whites
      1   cup crushed chocolate sandwich cookies (about 10 cookies), plus extra for garnish

1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease cupcake pan or use paper cups.

2. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together in bowl of electric stand  mixer. Stir in sugar. Add milk, butter, and vanilla; beat at low speed 30 seconds. Beat at medium speed 2 minutes.Add egg whites; beat 2 minutes. Stir in 1 cup crushed cookies. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, filling two-thirds full.

3. Bake 20 to 25 minutes  or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Cool  cupcakes in pans on wire racks 10 minutes. Remove to racks; cool completely.

4. Frost cupcakes (with whatever vanilla frosting you'd like, I made my own) and garnish with additional crushed cookies.

And Whala! Here you have it... Oreo Cupcakes!!
Happy Birthday Babe! 

 







  
   

Bringing Back the Blog

Ok, So it's been quite a while since I've updated this thing, so let me bring you up to speed as quickly as possible: 

We moved to Virgina in November and so far we are loving it! I'm really looking forward to spending the summer at the beach. Here is a picture of our little home here :)

Baby Eli was born 2-8-11 at 2:05pm via repeat c-section. He was 8lbs 9oz 20 1/2 in long with tons of dark hair.  

Now, he is 2 months old and he's smiling, cooing, and almost sleeping through the night. He has the most beautiful blue eyes (not sure how that happened, but I love it) and he's kept most of his hair.
 

Sophia is just loving being a big  sister. She loves to help me take care of baby Eli, and she calls him "little man" which is adorable. 

We  finally found a church here in Norfolk (Harvest Church Central)  and we are absolutely in love with it. The people are wonderful and have welcomed us like their own family. 
http://harvestchurchcentral.com/   


I'm getting ready to head to GA and FL for a couple  of months, should be an interesting trip with a 3 year old and a 2 month old all by myself, but I'm looking forward to spending time with family and introducing Eli to some special people. I'll try and update the blog as much as possible while we're gone. 

So that's all for now, just wanted to bring it up to date. Maybe this time I will actually keep up with it :)