Making Jewelry

Lately, while Brody takes his afternoon nap, Brooke and I have been spending time sitting outside on our porch. Sometimes we play games, talk, paint our nails....today we made jewelry. Brooke loves making crafts and she really enjoyed making bracelets and jewelry this afternoon. We had so much fun together. I'm really trying my best to soak in as much time alone with her as I can, she starts kindergarten in August and I know I'm going to miss my little helper so much. I think I'm going to need to buy more beads, I foresee plenty more days of jewelry making on our front porch.

Busy, Busy, Busy

March has flown on by and it's been a super fun and busy month. We are having such a fantastic time here in Arizona. I love waking up to blue skies and warm temperatures. I'm sure I'll be cursing the sun come July and August but for now it's great. Our house is slowly coming together, our couch finally arrived....after 6 weeks of waiting, with the wrong fabric! I have to say though the place we purchased it from has been fantastic and put in a rush order of the couch with the correct fabric and because of their mistake gave me a great deal on a china hutch that is meant to match our dining room table. Brooke's room is almost completely done and I love it just as much as she does.
We started landscaping on our backyard and the guys doing it have been great. We bought a barbecue last weekend and I swear that thing makes the best cheeseburgers! I'm anxious to try other recipes.
I promise pictures will come soon of everything as it slowly comes together!
We are spending the weekend in CA for a family wedding and I'm so excited for a day and evening out with Bryan and of course Brooke is so excited to see Oma and Opa and Lilly.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day! We started out our day with green eggs and pancakes and we were surprised to see that the leprechauns turned our toilet water green! Brooke never seems to find that one funny. I've done it now for three years and she just never finds it as fun as I do. Maybe Brody will think it's fun when he's older.

Brody's First Haircut

A few weeks ago Brody had his first day in nursery at church. I noticed that my sweet little boy had a mullet. The mullet that my mom blinders didn't see needed to go. Today I took Brody to get his very first haircut. I took him to this adorable children's salon close to our home. Brody refused to wear the cape, he preferd his "blankie". I'm seriously considering changing Brody's name to Linus. His blankie goes everywhere. I have to pry it away during bathtime. Literally, he eats, sleeps and goes everywhere with it. Blankie is responsible for many goose-egg bumps because Linus (aka Brody) wraps it around himself like a toga and he trips all of the time.
Brody did great for his first haircut all it took was a lollipop and his beloved blanket to get through it quite easily. Of course my weird child decides to cry after his haircut is over but managed a cute smile for mama's camera at home.
Brookie enjoyed getting her nails done while her little brother got his haircut. She was in heaven and of course picked pink with sparkles.

The Tooth Fairy Comes Tonight

My sweet baby girl lost her very first tooth today. Did I see this coming? No. Does my heart ache a little to see that the sweet baby girl I brought home from the hospital five years ago grow up? Yes. In an instant that beautiful dimpled smile of hers has turned into an even more beautiful and adorable dimpled smile with one little bottom tooth missing. Is it possible to become cuter after losing your very first tooth? Absolutely.
I was in the kitchen fixing lunch, Bo was chomping away on his food in his highchair. I was about to call Brooke down from her room to eat when I hear whimpering coming from the top stairs. "Mom, I fell."
I could sense that this was not the dramatic I'm dying because I got hurt cry, it was more of a worried cry. I comfort her, ask her if she hurt anywhere and she stated her mouth hurt a little. She opens up her mouth and to my shock her bottom tooth (she previously knocked loose a few months ago) was missing. Trying to remain calm while my brain was freaking out screaming "she must have swallowed it" I say with a nervous smile "Brookie your tooth is gone." She replies with "I know, I put it under my pillow. I tripped in my room and fell and it came out."
So we walk upstairs find the missing tooth under her pillow. She was upset but it helped her a ton to see Bryan and I so excited for her and doting over her new even more adorable than before smile. Shes more than excited for the Tooth Fairy to leave her a dollar under her pillow tonight.
While I was all smiles today to comfort my sweet princess, it was hard to hold back my tears for her sake. To see this new toothless smile, made my heart ache. My little girl is growing up...way too fast.

18 months

Today my sweet Brody turns 18 months old. What better way to celebrate than to take Brooke and Brody to their well child/baby check-ups. Brooke for her 5 year check-up and Bo for his 18 month check-up. Both left in tears. Brooke quietly crying to herself admiring the sticker she picked out as a reward and sucking on a lollipop from mama's diaper bag while Bo screamed all the way out to the car. Yes it was quite the scene and yes people were staring.
I survived and treated everyone to lunch.
I took some pictures today of my big 18 month old Brody boy as I walked into his room to wake him from his afternoon nap. He was already awake and ready for his afternoon cup of milk and snack. I love his sweet smile and the expressive faces he makes...just like his big sister did at that age.

Smore's Bars Recipe

I started Monday out with a list of things to get done, Tuesday morning I realized I had pretty much accomplished everything on my list except the one item I was not looking forward to doing...cleaning out the garage, breaking down boxes, fitting two cans of smelly garbage into one can, and make a run to the Goodwill. So after lunch I put my baby boy down for his regular 2 and 1/2 hour nap and I set out to tackle the garage. Two and 1/2 hours later I pull into the sparkling clean garage returning from the Goodwill drop-off, I stink and the baby boy is awake and ready for his afternoon snack and milk. (For those of you freaking out thinking I left him home alone I didn't. Bryan works from home and knew I made a quick trip out with Brooke) So the rest of the afternoon played out as follows, settle Brooke and Brody with their afternoon snacks, wash dishes that don't go into the dishwasher, prep dinner, cook dinner, cook Brooke and Brody their dinner, eat, clean up kitchen from dinner, add in a few dirty diaper changes and Brooke and Bo meltdowns, make a quick trip to my most favorite store of all Wal-mart (yes I was being sarcastic there) come home and Bryan states "I thought you were going to make that dessert you talked about making at Wal-mart." I reply with the usual it's getting close to baths and bedtime...should I...do you want me to make something??? I could sense that Bryan was craving something yummy for dessert so why not? I caved, after all I deserved something yummy too for my adventures in garage cleaning. So I made Smore's Bars. I came across this recipe while surfing recipes online and it was delish and super easy. Funny story, as the bars were baking and I was cleaning the kitchen, Bryan was upstairs playing with Brooke and Bo. Amid the screams and running and giggling Brooke rushes into the kitchen and askes "Mommy what are you making?"
I reply "Smore's Bars."
She states "Oh. Smmmores Bars....that's what Heaven smells like!"
Here is the recipe for what Heaven smells like according to my 5 year old. Enjoy!

Smore's Bars

Ingredients
7 graham crackers finely crushed (I did it in a gallon sizes Ziploc bag but you can also use a food processor)
1 stick of butter
1/2 cup of sugar
1/4 cup of brown sugar
1/3 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 to 1 3/4 cups of marshmallow creme fluff (I just eyeballed it making sure to cover atop the chocolate evenly)
1 1/3 cups of flour
4 DARK chocolate regular sized Hershey bars or use two king sized ones

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Grease and 8 inch square pan with globs of butter

Mix together with an electric mixer butter, sugar, and brown sugar. Add egg and vanilla and mix well. In a different bowl mix together flour, finely crushed graham crackers, salt and baking powder. Slowly add wet and dry ingredients together until a dough forms. Place 1/2 of the dough onto the greased pan and form an even layer with your hands. Place the chocolate on top of that first layer evenly. Next spread the marshmallow creme evenly on top of the chocolate. Lastly place the remaining dough atop the marshmallow creme to create a final even layer.
Bake for 30 minutes (I baked mine for 35/37 minutes)
Wait until it's completly cool to cut into bars. I was anxious but still really enjoyed mine all warm and gooey, a scoop of vanilla ice-cream served with it would have been perfection.
Enjoy!