Spring Chicks :-)

March 2014

These are just some fun pictures of some of the different things the kids were doing a few months ago, when Karl was about three months old.

Jared playing with his heroes.

 Jared was really into playing with his Handful Heroes, his "little guys," and his other bigger action figures. There were out almost everyday.

 During the middle of this month is when we heard Karl let out his first big-laugh. Jared was jumping up and down on the couch cushions, while I was standing near by holding Karl. Karl eyes were glued to Jared where ever he jumped and he was so interested in watching him go up and down, up and down. Then he finally just let out this sweet little laugh, like Jared was just doing the funniest thing going up and down.

Brothers taking a nap together.

 Jared and Karl, by this time, really appreciated each others company and having a brother to be with. They were pretty good little buddies. Jared got really good at picking our certain toys and blankets and things to bring to Karl to share with him; he likes to make him happy. They'd always like to play... and nap near each other.

Karl playing in his own little jungle and cuddling his bear.

One thing that took him a while to figure out is why Karl didn't think it was funny when he'd jump at him and say "Boo!" but would cry instead. But, now the word scared is a part of Jared's vocabulary, and he understands to not scare Karl.

 Karl was still just a big chunk and couldn't get around much, so we'd sit him down sometimes and he could sit there and watch what everyone was doing. Jared liked for Karl to sit next to him on the couch and be his passenger while he pretended to drive a car. It was very cute!

Jared probably being a "boo-bop" (robot).

 This is also the first month that Karl really started to smile and babble pretty often. It was so much fun to see him be able to let so much of his little personality come out. He's been such a sweet little boy!!

Karl looking sharp in one of his church outfits.

 Jared was really getting into wrestling. He was really good at being on Momma's team, saving me from Daddy. But, we had to teach him to not try and wrestle Baby and to not wrestle at church, in nursery. I'm a nursery leader, so I'm in with Jared and I can tell some of the other kids like to wrestle at home too, but we try to teach them not to at church and Jared's been a very good listener. :-)

Jared coloring his favorite Avengers coloring book.

At this time he was really getting into learning his colors. I'd found a bag of gum balls of ours and I let him try one. After that, ever day he'd ask for a "boo-ball," but first I'd have him say what color he wanted. Little by little he caught on to each color and didn't need help any more asking for what color he wanted. Now that he knows how to say his colors my suspicions have been confirmed that his favorite color is blue, generally anyway. 

Jared playing Jetpack Joyride.

Those are our boys, learning and growing and making us smile everyday!! :-)

Banana Fanna Pie

March 28, 2014 Friday

The 14th day of March is Pie Day, 3.14, so I like to try and make a pie on that day each year, but this year I missed, so I decided to do one late anyway.

 Ryan always appreciates the banana pies that I make, so I decided to try this Banana Fanna Pie. It's a layer of hardened chocolate...

 ...then banana slices...

...then a cream filling topped with whipped cream (always homemade) and chocolate chips. It was creamy and delicious!! I tried an experiment with this pie, that turned out to be very valuable. When I made a cream pie before, here in Houston, it didn't set up at all. So, with this pie, I made the cream filling on the stove top, as usual, then gave it a chance to set up in the fridge. When it didn't, I reheated half the filling, on the stove, but this time stirred in a packet of unflavored gelatin. Then, I pour that back into the cool half of the filling, stirred, and then put it back in the fridge.

It set up beautifully and I was able to make my pie!! :-) I was so happy! Some my favorite pies are cream pies and now I can once again make cream pies, in Houston!! Yay!!

Jared's First Rodeo

March 19, 2014 Wednesday

 The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo was going on this spring and Jared, Karl, and I were very grateful to have such nice neighbors who wanted to invite us to go with them during the day one day. Our good friends and neighbors, Gramma Aurora and Aunt Linda, had some extra tickets, not only to get in, but to get on the rides. The rodeo was coming to an end soon and we were glad to help them use up some more of their ticket booklets.

 One thing Jared got to do right away was get his face painted. He loved it! I asked him what he wanted and showed him the different choices, but he said he wanted "ball." So, Jared waited his turn and watched his new friend who came with us, Miranda, get hers done, then I asked the lady if she could do a basketball for Jared. He thought it was so cool!!

 Next, we went to the livestock show. There were tons of farm animals everywhere. Jared saw pigs, goats, sheep. He got to pet a rabbit and watch a cow being milked while drinking his own bottle of chocolate milk.

Then, we got to go inside the petting zoo. That was crazy, but Jared had so much fun getting to see so many animals running around together and pet them. Karl thought it was pretty interesting too; it was definitely his first time seeing anything like it. Mommy had to keep pushing the goats away from trying to nibble at his feet.

 Probably the high-light of the day for both of us was when Jared got to go on a pony ride. He was elated!! He couldn't stop smiling. He was just having the time of his life the whole time he was up there.

It was definitely a priceless moment for me as a mother to see him so happy and content. :-)

After that, we went outside and got to ride a few rides. This was another first for Jared, and it was so fun to see how happy he was to be driving his own car, or flying in an elephant. (We got to ride the flying elephant together. It was so fun! :-))

 He loved this Spider Mania one where he got to ride a swing that went in circles. He and I would wave to each other when ever he came back near my spot. He thought it was so amazing!! He was so cute!!

 Karl had a great time being held so much by Mommy or Linda or Aurora, so it was a good day for him too. We got to end our fun with having lunch and then riding back to our parking spot on a shuttle-trailer.

We missed having Daddy there, but we had an amazing day together with some great friends!!