Birthday Weekend.

This years birthday was much more mellow than years past. I didn't have a party, I didn't even have a cake. It seemed to fall during a busy time and the weather didn't cooperate which changed our plans several times. At the end of the day, it turned out to be a relaxing day enjoying the little things in life.

Saturday afternoon our wonderful friend, Karlie, babysat for us for a few hours. Our friends have asked time and time again to babysit and we finally accepted the offer (by the way - I think we'll start using your services more often!). We decided to go furniture shopping. Matt's parents gave us their old couch when we got married....and I mean old. It has been a great couch over the years, but it was definitely time to be replaced!

Before.

After!
Sunday morning, Matt let me sleep in and then made french toast with fresh berries. It was delicous!

Matt bought me a beautiful flower hanging basket too! Anyone who knows me knows that I don't enjoy gardening. In fact I hate it. Pulling weeds, watering, and getting on my hands and knees in the dirt is so unappealing. So, the 2nd half of my present was a promise for Matt to water the flowers and make sure they don't die! That was the best present of all!!Carter spent the weekend chewing on anything he could get his hands on. Poor little guy is having his 2nd tooth come in and it's killing him!We also spent some time on the floor. Carter can now scoot backwards anywhere he wants to go, but just can't figure out the forward motion. Yoshi got to have a bath and a haircut, then just relaxed.And finally, Carter got to spend some quality time with his Dada - he still can't/won't say Mama. Oh well....luckily he's cute!

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Famous Cinnamon Rolls

Okay, so not really famous, but I've had a few requests for the recipe since my last post. So...here you go! It really isn't as complicated as it looks and doesn't take that much time. I like to make everything the night before and then let the rolls chill in the fridge overnight. In the morning, I just set them out for 20-30 min. then bake. It's that easy! Hope you all enjoy!

(Recipe from Better Homes & Gardens - I've added/changed a few things that I think improve the recipe.)

ingredients

• 4 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 package active dry yeast
• 1 cup milk
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup butter
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 eggs
• 1/3 cup softened butter
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1 recipe Vanilla Glaze

directions

1. In a large mixing bowl combine 2 1/4 cups of the flour and yeast; set aside. In a medium saucepan heat and stir milk, the 1/3 cup sugar, the 1/3 cup butter, and salt just until warm (120 to 130 degrees F.) and butter almost melts. Add milk mixture to dry mixture along with eggs. Beat with an electric mixer on low to medium speed 30 seconds, scraping bowl. Beat on high speed 3 minutes. Using a wooden spoon, stir in as much of the remaining flour as you can.

2. Turn dough onto a floured surface. Knead in enough remaining flour to make a moderately soft dough that is smooth and elastic (3 to 5 minutes total). Shape dough into a ball. Place dough in a lightly greased bowl; turn once to grease dough. Cover and let rise in a warm place until double in size (about 1 hour).

3. Punch dough down. Turn onto a lightly floured surface. Divide in half. Cover and let rest 10 minutes. Lightly grease two 9x1-1/2-inch round baking pans.

4. Roll each portion of the dough into a 12x8-inch rectangle. Brush the 1/3 cup softened butter over dough. Combine the 1/2 cup brown sugar, flour and cinnamon; sprinkle over dough. Roll up into a spiral, starting from a long side. Seal seam. Slice each roll into 6 equal pieces. Place in prepared pans. Cover and let rise in a warm place until nearly double (about 30 minutes).

5. Bake in 375 degree F oven for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden. Cool slightly; remove from pans. Drizzle with Powdered Sugar Icing. If desired, serve warm. Makes 12 rolls.

Make-Ahead Tip: Prepare and shape rolls. Cover with plastic wrap. Chill 2 to 24 hours. Let stand at room temperature for 20 minutes. Prick any air bubbles with a wooden pick. Bake as directed.

Powdered Sugar Icing: In mixing bowl combine 2 cup sifted powdered sugar, 1/4 teaspoon vanilla, and 2 tablespoon half & half. Drizzle over warm cinnamon rolls.

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1st Fathers Day.

To celebrate Matt's 1st Fathers Day I wanted to make the day extra special. It started out with some delicious homemade cinnamon rolls. I only make these once a year and they are so delicious! We ended up giving most of them away to Matt's co-workers because we couldn't justify eating 2 whole pans...although we wanted to!

Matt spent the morning playing with Carter. These 2 love each other so much!I bought Matt a new Seahawks sweatshirt and a matching one for Carter. I think they are pretty cute.I had planned to take Matt on a picnic lunch up at Birch Bay for the day. But, we all know Pacific Northwest weather doesn't like to cooperate all the time (seriously, when is summer going to come?) so we ditched the plans and went to Costco. Haha - I know, a little lame but it was on the to-do list.

We spent the rest of the day relaxing around the house...something we don't often do. It worked out for the best because Carter had another one of his memorable blow-outs (remember his Mother's Day explosion?!?) so it was nice to be home when it happened!I'd say it was a pretty great day. I love my 2 boys so much and believe Carter really does have the best daddy in the world!
Carter didn't want me to feel left out so he gave me one of his famous kisses, full of drool, to make sure I felt loved.

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6 month check up.

Took Carter to the doctor today for his 6 month check-up. The first words out of the doctor's mouth, "WOW, look at those thighs!"

Stats:
Weight: 23lbs, 1oz. (off the charts)
Height: 28 1/4 in. (95th percentile)
Head Circumference (75th percentile)

We love our big, chubby boy!

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Carter's Baptism

This past weekend we had Carter baptized at church. It was a beautiful day and both of our families came up for the day. We have been very blessed to be a part of First Presbyterian Church for the last 6+ years. This is the church where we met, where we were married and now where Carter was baptized! Our Pastor Doug and us on stage.

Doug baptizing Carter. We couldn't really see it from where we were standing, but I guess Carter gave him a pretty funny look as the water was dripping down his head!Uncle Adam and Carter.The Longhurst clan (Dad, Mom, Carter, Me, Matt, Joy and Matthew)Cute family shot.
The Vance side of the family (Carter, Tom, Kathy, Me and Matt)

Uncle Matthew and Aunt Joy with Carter.

We had several close friends come to see him at church that day too. Thanks everyone...it meant a lot to have you all there!

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swimsuit season.

The only time in your life when chubby thighs look cute in a swimsuit.

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Happy Half Birthday!

6 months ago our little boy was born. 6 months. Crazy. Tonight Matt and I were thinking back to that day (well days as my labor was VERY long). It's funny how you can remember every little detail. How quickly these last 6 months have gone, how quickly our lives were turned upside down, in an instant. How quickly we learned to adapt to changes in our sleep, work, social life and marriage. It has been an amazing 6 months.

This past month we have especially noticed huge milestones in our baby. Every day he seems to turn into more of a little boy and less of a baby. He is now sitting up on his own, starting to scoot backwards and in circles, eating solid foods, smiling and laughing constantly, saying "Hi dada" over and over and over again (I'm endlessly working on "mama" but he's just not interested!). He has learned to love (and expect) his bedtime routine, rubs his eyes when he's sleepy, tugs on Yoshi's tail, puts everything in his mouth and has a favorite new game of dropping every toy on the floor from his highchair (actually the fun part of the game for him is watching mama pick up his toys over and over again - not so fun for me!)

Carter is such a joy in our lives. From the moment he wakes up (at 5:30am!) grinning from ear to ear to the last snuggle at night before we lay him down he is simply a happy, happy baby. We couldn't be more blessed and are so excited to see what the next 6 months hold. As we prepare for a major babyproofing session, we will thoroughly enjoy these last few weeks with a non-mobile baby

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