Seoul, Baby

I'm playing catch up...it's my nature to post things in order, but sometimes, I just get behind.

You can stop laughing now. I know I get behind quite frequently, but I have to prioritize because some of my readers (Mom, GA Shirley, Mary Jo, Debbie & Diana) like me to keep the updates coming.

So, these are pictures of a trip into Seoul. A quick trip to the American Embassy & then on to Insadong. Fun little day trip with our buddies Anastassia & Athena! Anastassia is quite comfortable with driving into Seoul...I can comfortably go to the river, but I am unable to drive & hyperventilate, so I just go with her into the big city! :) Someday...

Abby asked to have their picture taken. And smiled. Amazing!

Sweet Beks relaxing in the stroller

Super cute girlies
Posing with some (expensive!) funny sunglasses!

One more time...

Bloggy love,

Justified

Some days it's just nice to know you're not a total freak. Here's a link to clue you in...so, here's to being ahead of the curve for once. And to think, I had people scoff that Abby was rear-facing in her carseat for over 2 years!! I was a pioneer. Okay, so Dawn & Sarah, you were too, but now we at least have an 'official' validation! Not that we ever needed one... :)

Bloggy love,

Party Girl

The day after her little birthday party, Beks wouldn't stop trying to put her party hat on. It was so cute! She is a fun party girl...good thing we have another birthday tomorrow! :) All these birthday girls--how is a mommy supposed to handle all this growing up?

Bloggy love,

Birthday Girl

Well, we decided last minute to have an impromptu little party for Beks. Actually, Mommy started to feel guilty that Beks would watch Abby's 1st birthday video & give me grief about it. We lived 2 hours from my hometown when we were at Scott AFB, so we had family birthday parties up until now. There was lots of family! So, all along, we were going to have a little family thing here. Mommy changed her mind. Then came cupcakes & quick skype messages...and thankfully, a group of friends came to cheer Bekah on during her cake eating & opening presents! It was a special time & we are sure happy our baby girl is a big 1-year-old. We are loving every minute of it!

Mmmmm...cupcakes

Brad used his engineering experience to organize the cupcakes! We didn't bring my cupcake tree...the horror. Oh, & Daddy also remembered the sprinkles!! I am so glad someone in this house can remember something. Janelle helped ice the cupcakes & we were ready to party!

Party hats are FUN. These are from Brad's 27th birthday...um, last year. HAHAHA.

How old is Bekah?
Fire + Baby = Scared Mommy
What is all this stuff?

Bek's little helpers! :)
Gotta love Indy dog. Amanda made Bekah a cute birthday card & I set it on top of the dog kennel. A few minutes later, she calls me into the room. He managed to pull it into the kennel with him & shred it! Nice.
One of the toys I have to pry out of the big sister's hands to give to the little sister 1,005 times a day! It goes along with the sharing talk & being kind and gentle to our little sis! :) Consistancy, right?
The stroller Abby gave Beks. Hmmm...weird because she doesn't like for Bekah to play with it!
Only Brad. I went to start cleaning some stuff up & this is what I find. It was on my list of things to do, but Brad doesn't mess around. He'll do his list & mine. That's what happens when he doesn't have a garage or yard work! It made me smile to walk in & see all the sunlight...it's Abby's blackout curtain I made, but we can finally let the sun in now! Thanks, Daddy!

Birthday footage!

Until next time,

Cupcakes: A Favorite Treat

There are 2 people in this home who LOVE cupcakes. Love them. It's not me. I like a good cupcake, but I am okay with eating a really good one & being done with it. Well, Daddy & Abby can't get enough.

So, I enlisted Abby as my baking assistant yesterday to prepare Bek's birthday cupcakes. As Abby has pointed out, Bekah will get no #1 mini cake like Abby did when she turned 1 (I'm sure I will hear about this from Beks at some point as well...oh, the neglected second born!). I had no cake mix, so I went looking for a recipe to make everyone happy. My criteria:
1. I had to have all the ingredients on hand
2. They had to be reviewed as moist (like I said above, when I'm going to eat a cupcake, it's going to be a good one!)

What kind did we decide on...

Yum-o. These carrot cupcakes turned out pretty good. You know what was even better though? The icing. Sweet goodness. I made cream cheese frosting & it was delicious (I can say this because it's not my recipe, it's Betty C's!). It said to slather (not sure that was the exact word) it on graham crackers if you have leftovers...if I only had some of them! Oh my, I was slathering it on strawberries in an attempt at health food! After everyone left, I just ate it off a spoon. Really, I have no shame.

I will attempt to start putting more recipes up again (Sarah P!), so here are the cupcakes for Bek's 1st birthday...you'll see from the birthday pictures that she was satisfied with her first cake & ice cream experience!

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup maple syrup
• 3 cups grated carrots

DIRECTIONS

1. In a large bowl, combine the first six ingredients. In another bowl, beat eggs, oil and syrup. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in carrots. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups two-thirds full.
2. Bake at 350 degrees F for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks.
3. Frost cooled cupcakes. Sprinkle with nuts if desired.

Icing: Thanks to good ol' Betty Crocker...

• 8 oz. cream cheese (softened)
  
• 1/4 cup butter (softened)
• 2 tsp milk
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 4 cups powdered sugar

Cream butter, cream cheese, milk & vanilla until smooth. Add powdered sugar 1 cup at a time on slow until blended. Eat with a spoon until sick (wait until after the party when everyone leaves...it's just easier to justify that it's leftover & going to waste if you don't eat it).


Next up, throwing ice cream & licking icing...also known as, Bek's birthday party!

Bloggy love,

Green Smoothie Girls...

Our girls are good eaters, but Beks has systematically turned down anything green I try to feed her--with the exception of peas. No matter how much she wants to live on bread alone, I just think we need to add a little variety. So, I have been trying to get the girls into drinking smoothies daily with Mommy. Mommy is up to a quart a day, but the girls haven't been too interested...until today. Today, I added more fruit & dollop of honey & let's just say that it was a smashing success.

Let's get the smoothie drinking form down from watching big sister...

Synchronized. Love the baby belly...

Beks got a shape sorter today from one of her friends & put it to use as a little stool. See, she's a genius. So advanced.

More to come on the big 1st birthday...we're waiting until Daddy can join us for the festivities. Abby was devistated! A birthday with no cake or ICE CREAM. We are cruel, cruel parents.

Until next time,

Splish Splash

Well, Beks has a new hobby. She LOVES water and has been finding plenty of it to play in! The first stop...Indy's dog water. I was at the computer the other day & heard noise that sounded like the dog drinking. Well, that was until I heard the baby cackles following the splashing noise! So now, Abby & I police the water situation at the dog bowl. Abby takes this job VERY seriously. Really, she pretty much wholeheartedly embraces any chance she gets to parent Bekah. Whew. Glad someone wants to take charge around here. HA. Anyway, Abby was finishing up her bath and Beks was hanging out by the tub watching her. I head to the laundry room (for 2 seconds!!) to throw the dirty clothes into the hamper. This is what I return to...



I wish I would have had the video button handy...she was not just patting the water. She was wildly smacking the toilet water (right after her bath, I might add!) and laughing hysterically. Oh yes, it bears repeating, she is going to give me all sorts of gray hairs...I can feel it!

Bloggy love,