Valentine's Day

Friday, February 13, 2015

As planned, on our fifth anniversary (12th) I went to a friends house and got my hair cut into an a-line, Ryan shaved his beard and I cut his hair. I was so happy to have short hair again with the Houston heat coming back. And Ryan looked so young again with his beard gone. Apparently a few people at work didn't recognize him at first.

That Friday, we planned on me and the boys taking Ryan out for lunch. Before going in, Jared and I worked on some surprise Valentines for him and Gramma Brenda, Ryan's co-worker and friend. I let Jared do his free-style drawing and I made up a rhyme to put around the outside, with some input from Jared on what he wanted it to be about (robots, transformers).

Meanwhile, Karl sat by playing in my cupboards, like the silly boy he is.

When we were done working on our Valentines, we got dressed and ready and headed to Ryan's work. I decided to head out a little early and surprise Ryan by having gotten lunch already so we could go to a park. We were planning on going to Whataburger, so I picked up lunch there and then met Ryan at his work. Jared very excitedly gave Daddy his Valentine and very shyly gave Brenda hers. Brenda opened up a bag of chocolate hearts and shared with the boys, which broke the ice beautifully and Jared suddenly remembered that he liked Brenda. :)

We then went to a park a block away and had our family picnic. It was a fun change of pace, and awesome for Jared and Karl to get to play with Daddy at a park in the middle of the day, which they don't get to do very often.

Karl @ 14 Months Old

February 2015

With it being five years ago that our family was established I reflect and am so grateful for each member of our family from the littlest (Karl) to the biggest (Ryan). We are each so special and unique and play an important part in the family.

Karl’s part is to make us laugh and smile, and to be a daily reminder of why we’ve strived to live a righteous life all these years and why we’re constantly striving to be better.

 He helps us learn to be more responsible, gentle, giving, and loving. He helps us to stay in the habit of cuddling, kissing, hugging, and playing every day.

 He teaches Jared to share and to try and think of others more (sometimes hard when you’re three). Karl teaches Ryan and me, because of our love for him, how very much our Heavenly Father must love us, want to help us, and want our happiness.

 Karl’s just simply lovable and cute and cuddly. He’s fun to tease, tickle, and wrestle with. Our family would never be the same without a Little Squirt waddling around wearing a snow cap.

Shortcakes!

January - February 2015

I was really looking forward to doing some baking and trying out my new pans that I got for Christmas. So I started with making these strawberry shortcakes. I made six of them in my mini-bunt pans, using a sour cream pound cake recipe, and then put strawberries, coconut whipped cream, and toasted coconut on top. They were soo good!!

The next thing I wanted to make was something that Ryan and I had been waiting forever and dying to make! Peanut Butter Hide-aways! I just needed to right pan, now that I had I was so happy to make them!

The other kind of pan that I was really wanting and happy to now have was a large bunt pan. It was always so sad to pass those bunt pan recipes by and say, I can't do that one yet! The first one I decided to do was this Lime Poppy Seed Cake with berries.

 I chose this to make as a late birthday cake for myself. Ryan had fully intended on making me a cake on my birthday, but with Karl being so sick, we had to keep a really close eye on him to see if he needed a hospital. So, neither of us were thinking about a cake at the time. So, later, when our worries were over, I pulled out my fresh new bunt pan and made this cake. It was pretty good, and flavorful for a simple bunt cake.