The Road Trip

UPDATE: This was posted in October 2012...not quite sure what I did to make it repost at the top...or how to get it back to where it was. Ohh, technology! Looking at it, it kinda feels like forever ago since we live here now. Enjoy it anyway!


We just recently got back from a wonderful long weekend road trip to Bend, Oregon. We survived the drive (it really wasn't as bad as I let my imagination tell me it would be) and our time in Bend was so refreshing. Here, in pictures, is our little vacation...

Running off some late night energy at the rest stop

Tennis shoes over jammies...the latest look in fall fashion

Pit stop near Mount Shasta for lunch...beautiful

Trying out big sister's snow hat, car seat and snack trap

Lunch time!

Our little squirrel gathering acorns

The beautiful Deschutes River runs right through Bend

Downtown near our vacation rental...so quaint

Playing on the lawn

Collecting (and eating) leaves

Evidence that I was there

Ready for the 14 hour trip home!

Family vacations are fun!!

The trip was delightfully low key. We visited with family, took some walks, went to church and took the girls to the local pool. We really didn't get too many more pictures than this. I guess we were too wrapped up in having fun and enjoying the sweet family time.

In Him,
Kim

And the the baby turned one...

 Well, she did it. Annalise went and turned one! No longer a baby, she's now a silly sweet little bundle of toddler. To celebrate the big one, we had a little party with both sets of grandparents in town. While her dinner party lasted only a few hours she partied hard for about a week straight with so much love from Grammy, Grandpa, Nanny and Papa during their visit.

 We decked the house in pink and white. Charlie helped make the circle garland and stamped some snowflake cookie cutters for our table center piece. Isn't she crafty? :)

 We put out some clear jars and bowls of pink and white candies: Good and Plenty (am I the only one who loves these?) and M&Ms and Hershey's Kisses (I bought Valentine's day packs of the M&Ms and Kisses and picked out all the red ones.)

For dinner we had every toddler's favorite meal...Macaroni and Cheese! A very delicious and grown up version with Gruyere and Cheddar. It. Is. The. Best. (Find the recipe at the bottom of the post) And there was salad, and such a great (and affordable) bottle of red wine from here.

 There were presents of course...plenty of noisy, glitters, wonderful presents.

 And of course the cake! I wanted a pink cake so I made the Smitten Kitchen pink lady cake. I substituted raspberries for strawberries, it was delicious but the raspberries made for a purple cake...oops! Also, rather than make it three layers I made it two and used the rest to make Ann her own little heart shaped smash cake and some cupcakes.

Clearly, she is so excited to be one...and we are excited too! We love you Anna-wiggles!

And, as promised, here's the crowd pleasing Mac and Cheese recipe...

Barefoot Contessa's Mac &Cheese



Ingredients
Vegetable Oil
1 Pound elbow macaroni
1 quart milk
8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, divided
½ cup all purpose flour
12 ounces Gruyere cheese, grated (3 cups)
8 ounces extra-sharp cheddar cheese, grated (3 cups)
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
½ teaspoon nutmeg
1 ½ cups fresh sourdough bread crumbs (use food processor to make bread crumbs)

Preparation
Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Drizzle oil into a large pot of boiling salted water. Add macaroni and cook
according to directions on the package. Better to be a little al dente. Drain
well.

Meanwhile, heat the milk in a small saucepan, but don’t boil it. Melt 6
tablespoons of butter in a large (4 quart) pot and add the flour. Cook over
low heat for 2 minutes, stirring with a whisk. While whisking, add the hot
milk and cook for a minute or two more, until thickened and smooth. Off
the heat, add the Gruyere, cheddar, pepper, and nutmeg. Add the cooked
macaroni and stir well. Pour into a 3-quart baking dish.

Melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter, combine them with the fresh
bread crumbs, and sprinkle on the top. Bake for 30 to 25 minutes, or until
the sauce is bubbly and the macaroni/bread crumbs are browned on the top.

To make ahead, put the macaroni & cheese in the baking dish, cover, and
refrigerate until ready to bake. About ½ hr. to 45 minutes prior to baking,
remove from fridge and let macaroni & cheese come to room temperature.
Put the bread crumbs on top and bake for about 40 to 50 minutes. Enjoy!


In Him,
Kim

Charlie Marie is Two

Charlie Marie turned two this weekend and I can hardly believe it. We had such a great time celebrating out sweet first born all weekend long. With lots of family in town and friends joining us for her party it was a busy, busy weekend but we had a blast.

While the guest list was long and required renting tables and chairs for the party (It felt a little silly to me before hand. Rent tables for a second birthday party? Really? But it was totally worth it.) I tried to keep things low key and simple.

I decided to have Charlie make the decorations so we set the table with egg carton flowers and hung some symmetry butterflies in the windows. I loved spending the time to do crafts with her rather than leaving her to play on her own so that I could make elaborate, picture perfect centerpieces and buntings. A few balloons, quick tissue paper pom-poms and some ruffled streamers left over from her first birthday and we were in business.

   

We served lunch, a taco bar, which went together with very little fuss thanks to my crock pot. Dessert was a bouquet of cupcakes decorated by my sisters-in-law (sister-in-laws?). Anyway, I was so thankful to have them here to help in such a big way.

With two-year-olds I’ve come to find that party games just aren’t worth the trouble so our fun consisted of the swing set and some tubs of play-doh. The big hit of the day however was the huge galvanized tub of ice we kept the drinks in. The kids swarmed the tub, splashing in the water, digging out drinks, eating and throwing chunks of ice until their hands were bright pink and frozen.

We had beautiful weather for playing and having fun in the backyard and, most importantly, I think Charlie felt special and had a great time.

In Him,

Kim

The Second Round of Firsts

Dear Annie is just a week and a half shy of six months old and got her first taste of "big girl" food last night. It is milestones like this cause me to pause and reflect on what it was like hitting these markers with Charlie and how different it is the second time around. 

The differences in my perspective between Charlie and Annie been have obvious from the beginning. Pregnant with Charlie, if asked how far along I was, I could rattle of that I was 20 weeks, 3 days and 11 hours pregnant and that she was the length of a banana. I couldn't imagine not knowing how far along I was with my baby. But alas, pregnant with Annie, when asked I would pause and say, "ummm, 14 weeks, I think. Maybe 16." After just one time around pregnancy felt so routine. I didn't read up on what to do or not to do. I just went about my busy life caring for Charlie, at times even forgetting why I was so tired or feeling nausious. She was just there, growing and squirming inside of me. I cherrished the kicks and hicups but couldn't ever compare her to my produce purchases.

With sweet Charlie I was always anxious and pushing to reach the next milestone. Excited to get to first foods, sitting up and crawling. Reading, reading, reading to make sure we did things just right. The second time around? Well, I like it. It's been comfortable. Not nearly as many worries, hardly a page turned in research. I've been cherishing each phase and been in no hurry to reach the next. Take last night's first taste of rice cereal. There was little fanfair. I was wanting to start solids sometime before her six month check up incase any questions came up but I've been putting it off because I know it adds one more piece to our routine and, well, breast milk diapers are just so much more pleasant than solid food diapers. We had the cereal, a bit of "mommy milk," and a bit of free time so we went for it. It is still so much fun to see her reaction to the food and best of all was when Charlie asked to feed her. It was adorable! (and, on a side note, I think it might just be ingrained in us from the very begining to open our mouths when feeding a baby. Charlie did it with every single scoop. Funny, huh?)

Being a fisrt time mommy is wonderful, everything is so new and exciting. But I like being a second time mommy too, because it's all familiar and I can just sit back and take it as it comes.

How about you friend? Do you have more than one kiddo? How have you noticed your perspective changing with each child?

In Him,

Kim