The Cake!

Some of my family and I love to read the Jan Karon Mitford Series - it's basically the evolving story of a small town preacher, his life, and the lives of those around him. It's very entertaining and always very funny. One of the revolving themes in the book is the food - what people bring to the potlucks, what the reverend himself cooks, etc. One of the most famous dishes in the series is Esther's Orange Marmalade cake - it's always chalked up as one of the most decadent cakes ever and typically gets the reverend (a diabetic) in lots of trouble. After she began the series, the author was getting tons of requests for the recipes, so she decided to put together a cookbook which I was fortunate enough to receive as a gift from my father-in-law a few years ago. I immediately looked up the cake recipe and wanted to make it, but it's one of those absolutely from scratch, lots of ingredients, triple-sifting types of recipes and I just kept putting it off. Well, this year for my birthday, I decided to try it out. I didn't get it done by my birthday, but I did finish it up on Sunday - AMAZING!!!! The recipe is lengthy, so if you want a copy, send me an email or post a comment and I'll get it to you. Until then...let your mouth water away!

What We Believe

My girlfriend Becki posted this link on her blog yesterday, and after taking the time to read through, I felt impressed to add it to mine as well. This blog follows a family that is enduring a most difficult trial and the blessing that their faith has been for them. It will take some time to go back and read all posts from the beginning, but it will not only give you a sense of some of the basic precepts of our faith, but also a greater appreciation of the love our Heavenly Father has given us through our family and friends. I am so grateful to have the knowledge that my family is forever. For my family, I love each of you more than words can say and feel more than blessed to have you in my life.

http://nelsonsforever.blogspot.com/

First Days and Check-ups

In trying to yet again play catch-up, I thought I'd combine a few of the things we've been into the past few weeks! The boys had a fantastic first day of school - Sam is in 1st grade and is officially too old for Mommy to walk him to class - at least he let me get a pic at home before we left. Jack is in Pre-K and while we debated about whether to do a half-day or full-day, with Ellie at home and with Jack's high-energy personality, we figured the structure was better for both of us! We absolutely love his teacher (she was Sam's Pre-K teacher too) and he is truly thriving

Next up, Ellie officially turned 4 months old and had a fantastic check-up. She weighed 13 lbs, 1 1/2 oz (up to the 40th% from the 10th) and was 25 inches (up to the 75th% from the 10th) - that's four inches in two months! Her hemangioma is already fading and everything else checked out well - the doctor said she is absolutely perfect!

Along with that milestone came another one - solid food! We started out with some cereal, but

the doctor gave us the go ahead to start with 1st foods, so we're slowly introducing all the fun stuff - we've tried sweet potatoes, prunes, carrots, green beans, and bananas - so far so good! We also got a brand-new, girly girl high chair - thanks Grandma and Papa Coons!

Conversation II

Preface: The first Sunday of each month is "Fast Sunday" at our church and we fast for two meals and take that time to pray for and focus on a need in our lives. Here's a little something from our last Fast Sunday.

Sam: Mommy, why aren't you eating breakfast?

Me: Daddy and I are fasting today.

Sam: Oh, I know what that means.

Me: Really Sam, that's great - what does it mean?

Sam: It means that you eat really fast so that we can get to church on time. :)

Conversation

Sam: Mom, do you know what I want to do when I grow up?

Me: Nope, tell me.

Sam: Well, I'm going to work with Daddy most of the time, but then I'll spend the rest of my time driving monster trucks.

Me: Are you REALLY sure that's what you want to do?

Sam: Yes mam - if I work with Daddy I'll have enough money to buy my monster truck!

Oh, heaven help me with this one!

Three Months

It's hard to believe that three months have already passed since the little miss joined our family. Taking a note from my fellow blogger friends, I thought I'd do a little update on Ellie. She's up to about 11 1/2 pounds and 23 1/4 inches. At three months, she...

• sleeps wonderfully - 10 to 11 hours at night - and yes, we know how blessed we are for this
• loves taking baths
• isn't crazy about tummy time, but we're working on it
• loves getting her diaper changed
• smiles for pretty much everybody, but does it more quickly for her daddy and her big brother Sam
• is finding her voice and likes to talk to us and sings along with mommy
• giggled for the first time this past Sunday on mommy and daddy's anniversary
• buries her head in the crook of daddy's arm, especially in the evening when he gets home from work - I mean completely buries - you can only see the back of her head - she doesn't do this for anybody else - just daddy!
• has eyes that can stare right through you and make you want to jump through hoops just to keep her happy...this is going to be problematic later!

Little of That

Our botanical gardens had a "Big Bugs" exhibit-type thing that we had been trying to get to since it started back in March and we finally made it on the last Saturday it was open. We got to see all of the amazing bug sculptures, played around in the kids garden and had a lovely picnic with Aaron's dad and stepmom. The kids had a fantastic time and of course, Ellie had a nice stroll (and nap) in her bug outfit too!

Little of This

A little bit of catch up...back at the end of June we went to the Harmony Park Animal Safari - it's this great drive through safari where you can feed the animals as you go. We had the best time! One of the emus kept putting his head in the truck and scaring the kids (especially our nephew Kortlan). In his defense, the emu kept sneaking up on him and surprising him! There was also a gorgeous white horse that we were so excited to feed; unfortunately, we weren't feeding it fast enough and it scratched my truck! Later on the trek, there was a huge llama that also wanted to stick its head in the car - this lead to a yucky spitting incident - gross! After all was said and done, we needed quite the car wash and vacuum, but laughed harder than we had in a long time. Definitely worth the trip!