Sugar Sugar

Layla and Olivia came over a little unexpectedly one day. I asked them if they had any ideas of fun things we could do and not surprisingly they wanted to make cookies...for their mom. Layla suggested Lemon Whipper Snappers - so tasty and so easy! Still it was not without the mess. The part where you roll the cookies in powdered sugar, oh man what a mess it made, but the girls had fun and so did I. I made them take their clothes off and stay in the kitchen so I could take them (the clothes) outside and shake off the excess. Luckily, Will slept through the whole thing.

Once Will did Wake up, the girls were happy to entertain while I finished tidying up the kitchen. When I walked into the living room I found Will's play pen made into a cage and all three of them in there having a grand time. So I had to snap a picture.

BUZZ

My new calling(responsibility) at church is Enrichment Night leader. That basically means I'm in charge of an activity every quarter for the women at church (Relief Society). Well a couple weeks ago was my first one. The theme was milk and honey and we talked about food storage with home canning and dry pack canning. One of the things I did was make a cake--a "Sweet Beehive Cake" mind you. It turned out pretty good. It didn't look just like the picture (like always), and I did it a little different as well. But most importantly it tasted good - according to Layla and Olivia anyway. I would definitely do a few things different but I doubt I will ever need to make a beehive cake again.

An Apple a Day...

Layla and Olivia came over for a couple hours today. We were finishing up with lunch when I got Will's very large jar of applesauce out of the refrigerator.

Olivia looked at the jar and said in a confused tone, "That's Will's applesauce?"

Yes.

Much more solemn and matter-of-factly, "Oh man. He's gonna die"

What? Why?

"If he eats all that he's gonna die."

I laughed. I'm not going to give him all of it. Just a little at a time.

She seemed satisfied.

The Last Days

Monday morning came pretty early. Will slept horribly and we ended up not getting out of bed until close to 7. But we packed up the car and I fed Will a couple times and we were finally ready to go by 9ish. Julee insisted we stay one more day. We talked it over and hated to leave so late in the morning so we decided we'd stay one more day.

We spent Monday just hangin' out and swimming. Will finally got to were he liked being in the pool. Olivia also had a big day and actually got in the water instead of playing around it. We were all so exhausted from playing outside all day, especially Layla and Olivia.

The following morning we really did leave. Will had several dirty diapers so we had to stop again and again. Luckily he slept quite a bit. We did get stuck in some traffic and it took about an hour to move 10 miles at one point. Thankfully Will slept through all that and we didn't run into any more delays and finally made it to home sweet home.

We had a great trip.

The Whole Reason We Showed Up

We woke up Sunday Morning to the wonderful smell of baked omelet wafting through the house. It was a big day. Ceseley and Desmond (Julee and Dan's nephew) were to be blessed that morning. We all got our Sunday dresses and suits on and met in Julee and Dan's great room. Dan's parents, Mom and Joe, Mandy and girls, Mari, Adam, and Desmond (Dan's brother's fam), Wayne, Becky, and their 5 kids (Dan's sister's fam), and Erin, Julee's "birthing coach" and her family were all their to witness this special moment.

Before the blessings, Julee asked the little girls to sing I Am a Child of God. So Layla, Olivia, Grace, and Caroline all participated and really added a lot to the sweet feelings of the Spirit that always accompany these special moments. I, of course, teared up as the girls sang. It was very sweet.

Following the singing Desmond was blessed and then Ceseley. They were both such sweet blessings and we were just so happy to be able to be there and be a part of it all.

No occasion would be complete without more food if you're part of this family. Everything we do is surrounded and supported by food. It's my kinda livin'! We had muffins, baked omelet, a few banana bars that were left over from a previous day that somehow had not been scarfed down (a new recipe of Julee's and an instant favorite!), and fruit salad. We were able to just sit around and enjoy each others company for awhile and wait for church to start. Julee's ward does not meet until 3:30! (So glad we meet earlier in the day and that we don't share a building. I think 12:30 or 1 would be the perfect time to meet though. It would give you a nice lazy morning at home without the rush of getting out the door.) A nice church service, and then getting out at the perfect time to have a few hours of down time before bed time.

All of Dan's family,minus his parents, left before church and headed to their individual homes. The rest of us had the opportunity to go to church with the Ellsworth's. After church we headed back to Julee's and began our packing because we were going to be leaving early on Monday. But first--we ate...again!

These were taken after church. We wanted some pic of them together. I PROMISE he is not hurting her...he just loves her and all Ceseley wanted was to eat. Again. Guess she came to the right family...

For more pictures and more info go see Julee, Dan & Baby Ces

Rain, Rain, go away

And it did. Thank goodness! There were some definite concerns on whether or not their would be any swimming for Saturday(7/5). Luckily it cleared up and didn't rain until much later in the evening. So there was lots of swimming. Here Olivia is pausing to get a drink. I believe she must have been pretending to be a horse/puppy. And in the one on the right, I'm not sure what she is doing but she reminds me of Gollum from LOTR. Freaky huh?

A lot of Dan's family came in that afternoon and a lot of the children swam while Dan and Julee got things ready for the cook out, and while others visited and held babies. Mom and Joe arrived around this time and were recruited for holding the baby(Mom) and prepping the food (Joe). Julee's "birthing partner" and her family came for the cook out too. I'm so glad we got to meet her, Erin, and her family. Such nice people.

It was all delicious. One of my favorite things we had was a soup that Dan's SIL, Mari, made. Gazpacho -- yum, yum, double yum! Julee past the recipe on to me and maybe I'll post it sometime? (Don't get your hopes up!)

This one was a little earlier in the day. Everyone wanted to "help" Ceseley with her bottle. I'm sure Will just wanted to jack the bottle. I love all the hands. So sweet.

On the 4th

We did some cookin' that morning. Ceseley and Will cooperated and slept quite a bit. Probably due to the late night they had previously had. We made several different yummy things. I gained a few pounds for sure while I was there.


We swam a little bit later and Will liked it better on this day. We let him sit on the first step and he seemed to like it a little better but still was very wary of getting any further in.

That evening we went to a cook-out. Some of Julee and Dan's friends from the ward had a get together and we tagged along. The food was very yummy. There was one appetizer with Asparagus and bacon wrapped around it-yum. There was also a fruit salad of some sort that had what tasted like Keebler Fudge Shop cookies in it. YUM! Not to mention the Lemon white chunk cookies and double peanut butter cheesecake swirled brownies that we brought. Oh MY! sooo good! If you want the recipes for those click here. Julee already has them linked so I'm just gonna be lazy and send you to her blog. Find the link and it should take you right to the recipe.

Ceseley and I in our Red White and Blue. I love this picture. She looks so alert and happy. It must have something to do with who is holding her.

I gave this piece of corn to Will so he could suck on it. I was shocked when I took it out of his mouth and some kernels were actually missing. Thankfully he didn't choke! Bad mommy! But such a CUTE picture!

Mandy and her girls got in that evening and they swam just a bit and did a few fireworks and then everyone went off to bed. It was a big day! I was reminded several times that day of how grateful I am to live in this land.

On the 1st day

We took it pretty easy and tried to recover from the drive. Will chose to sleep and me and Patrick chose to swim and visit. We did try and get Will in the pool. Don't let the picture fool you - he was not a fan! He let us know in no uncertain terms that he did not like it one bit. It really surprised me since he loves baths so much...

He much preferred playing in this box. He really had a good time. Isn't that how it always goes.

Later that evening I went into town with Julee and Ceseley to run some errands. Patrick and Will took a nap. That whole day Ceseley's tummy was bothering her so she didn't rest well. In the car she finally slept that is until we stopped. I stayed in the car and held her while Julee ran in here and there. We got dinner at Chipotles, yum! We really need one here. It's so tasty.

We returned ate dinner and got Will ready for bed. Patrick offered to do that so I could visit and help Julee with some necessary preparations before all the other family came in. Will put up an amazing fight. He didn't fuss he just refused to sleep. He and Ceseley were on the same team I guess and definitely winning. He was being so sweet (and a little delirious). Here are a few pictures Julee snagged of him "up" when he should have been "down" a few hours earlier! ahh children...

And we're off!

We decided last minute to make a trip to VA. We had talked about doing that earlier this year, but decided against it since gas was so high. On Monday (June 30th) we made it official. I called Julee to see if it was too late to join in on the party. So we got everything thrown together and left early Wednesday Morning (7/2). The last time Will and I made the 7-8 hour trip he was a trooper, but he had a really hard time sleeping. His neck would always fall forward and it was so pitiful. I saw this neck pillow at Walmart and thought it might come in handy. Wow! It made such a difference. He would just rest his head on the sides and he slept and slept and slept. I am so glad I bought it.

We arrived at Julee and Dan's around 4. It was so good to see baby Ceseley at home this time. We ate dinner and settled in. Will got his feet wet in the pool and did not like it one bit. Julee did a great job of recording it with pictures and all on her blog. So if you're interested click here.

This was my first time holding little Ceseley outside of UVA NICU. Not the most flattering picture mind you, but just sweet enough that I wanted to share it.